ART-PRESENTATION: Richard Long-Land and Sky
Almost 50 years ago, while he was still a student at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art, Richard Long set off to hitchhike home to Bristol. Somewhere in the middle of the countryside he stopped, found a field, and walked up and down in the damp grass. He took a photograph of the resulting track, which he called “A Line Made by Walking” (1967), and with this simple act broke free from the confines of the gallery, and from the constraints of traditional sculpture.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Houghton Hall Archive
Richard Long’s solo exhibition “Land and Sky: Richard Long at Houghton” at Houghton Hall in Norfolk includes specially commissioned new works. The artist’s new works in the grounds of Houghton Hall use a variety of materials, including local Carr stone, flint from East Anglia, tree stumps from the Estate, as well as slate from Cornwall. They accompany the permanent Long sculpture, “Full Moon Circle”, which was commissioned for Houghton in 2003. There are large mud works in the outdoor colonnades, and smaller-scale works in gallery spaces, as well as historic material relating to the artist’s career. His new site-specific works are set within the historic landscape and gardens at Houghton, alongside permanent works by: James Turrell, Zhan Wang, Jeppe Hein, Stephen Cox, Rachel Whiteread, Anya Gallaccio and Phillip King. Richard Long is one of the most influential figures of conceptual and land art, part of a generation of artists who extended the possibilities of sculpture beyond traditional materials and method. In 1969, he was included in a seminal exhibition “When Attitude Becomes Form” at the Kunsthalle Bern for which he made a walk in the Alps that was documented by his first text work. Developing from his early mud and clay floor sculptures, in the ‘80s he began making new types of mud works with handprints applied directly on the wall. He also continued to make large sculptures of lines and circles from slate, driftwood, footprints or stone, often sourced from quarries near the exhibition sites. His work is rooted in his deep affinity and engagement with nature. Central to Long’s work is the activity of walking. Since the mid-1960s he has taken countless walks throughout the world, in places like: the Sahara Desert, Australia, Iceland and near his home in Bristol. The walks bring together physical endurance and principles of order, action and idea. From these walks emerge the idea and material for his works. Long’s sculptures commonly take the form of geometric shapes: circles, lines, ellipses, and spirals and are often composed of minerals native either to their location or to the British countryside Long has traveled by foot. He similarly sources mud and earth from his expeditions for use in performative paintings done on canvas or directly onto the wall.
Info: Curator: Lorcan O’Neill, King’s Lynn PE31 6UE, Norfolk, Duration: 30/4-29/10/17, Days & Hours: Wed-Thu, Sat-Sun & Bank Holiday Mondays 11:00-17:00, www.houghtonhall.com
