Customer Reviews

Passage: Andy Goldsworthy

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I first heard of Goldsworthy my temptation was to label his art as New Agey because of his interaction with natural mediums and his works' outdoor settings. This would have been a gross mislabeling. I've also heard the term "environmental artist" bandied about, but that is just far too vague and I'm hoping we don't adopt that as part of our art-appreciation vocabulary. I think Goldsworthy and Christos are grouped together under that title, but they couldn't be more dissimilar. Christos' works always so statement oriented and meant to be observed from a distance, while Goldsworthy's evocative sculptures and leaf paintings invite you to examine them more closely and admire how well they fit into the landscape. And though his art is made from natural materials and dependent on the elements, the works themselves are very modern. Passage was the first book of Goldsworthy's work that I've been given, though I've seen some of his smaller pieces and photos in several galleries.

His moss covered stones surrounded by sun-blindingly bright leaves in perfect auras make me examine my walks through the park in new ways. He uses sticks and stones and leaves the way James Turrell uses light and corners and openings, letting you rediscover the things you may have taken for granted. Beautiful and painstaking work. Yet accessible. After reading this, you'll be tempted to go outside and create your own sculptures. Passage offers some commentary by Goldsworthy and as well as diary entries and curators' comments. But the pictures make the book. Many of his works are photographed at different times of day or year and because they are dependent on their environment, the pieces change dramatically. Very beautiful.

The pictures in this book are once again amazing - and also very touching. It's easy to forget the time when you flip through this book and read the artist's remarks about certain works. The artist is simply a genius.

PASSAGE includes everything an interested reader could want: ample beautiful imagery, photographs of how finished pieces progress over time, photographs of original pieces being constructed, concurrent journal entries by Goldsworthy, commentary by various museum curators..

This book communicates beautifully perhaps the most necessary aspect of Goldsworthy's work, one that could not be transmitted merely through photos of his finished pieces. Goldsworthy's art, while accessing relationship with nature, also represents respect of, and submission to, time. It has always amazed me, and I imagine has had similar impact on many others, how much time and care is dedicated to the construction of such beautiful pieces and yet how easily they are allowed to be blown away or washed over or changed in whatever way by the powers that be. And yet, if it were not so, if his pieces were memorialized indefinitely, protected from natural wear and tear, their beauty would be somehow reduced. For it is in this release and acceptance of what must occur, that their power lies.

PASSAGE succeeds in portraying both aspects, relationship with nature and submission to time, through use of various tools, all mentioned in the 1st paragraph. As its title suggests, PASSAGE involves the reader in the process of Goldsworthy's art, from its conception to creation to change and destruction.

I rated this book only 4 stars because a part of me would have preferred more photos and fewer words. A picture speaks a thousand, as you know, and for those who are already familiar with Goldsworthy's amazing work, an inspiring photo of nature cannot but speak of its impermanence.

Goldsworthy is a master at using nature in creative ways. I own his book, "A Collaboration With Nature," which is also a beautiful book, but what i love about "Passage" is how it documents and details the design process and the way Goldsworthy actually created his artwork. My favorite piece of work of his in this book is the one he calls pool of light - a huge circle of split wood facing a certain direction so that when the sun hits it, it is illuminated a rich golden color, surrounded by more split wood facing a different direction so that when the sun hits the circle or "Pool", the surrounding wood is dark. By the afternoon, when the sun hits the field of wood from a different direction, the colors are reversed, with the circle appearing dark, and the surrounding wood illuminated golden.

Goldsworthy's ability to use the ordinary changes in nature (such as the sunrises and sunsets, the ocean tides or currents in rivers), and to weave those changes into his art in an interactive way, is nothing short of genius. The photography is also extraordinary. This book is inspirational - it makes you want to go outside, commune with nature, and a create something!

This book is BREATHTAKING. I've admired Goldsworthy's simple yet stunning nature-mimics-nature for a few years now, but this book managed to blow me away.

Much of the photographs are devoted to the use of light on his works. Shadows, times of day (or year!), reflections, and the passage of light make astounding changes in his works.

Goldsworthy includes his notes and journal entries for the works, explaining his goals, emotions, and reactions to the process. A valuable look into the works, but also into the artist himself and his thoughts.

This is not just a book. It is a journey through the extraordinarily creative mind of an artist who makes the natural world come alive by making us look at the shapes, colours and textures of simple objects in a completely new way. Rocks, river pebbles,leaves, sand and ice come alive as Goldsworthy arranges them in ways which at times challenge our perceptions.

His installations are frequently temporary and ephemeral but are captured forever through his beautiful photography. Some of his works, including his cairns and stone arches are more substantial and his images give us a sense of time and season as he captures them across the year.

Goldsworthy, who now lives in Moniaive in a lovely rural part of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, is an artist whose work allows an increasingly urbanised world to see nature in a different way. He provides a lens through which we can appreciate its beauty in a focused way.

If you do not own this book, go and buy it.

excellent. the fleeting caught whenever one wishes. Goldsworthy is
always worth considered thoughts no matter how simple his art may seem...
the sum is greater than its parts...and it is lovely.