Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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74 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful portrait of an amazing artist, November 11, 2004
For those who are not familiar with Andy Goldsworthy's work, he creates sculptures from nature, using rocks and tree branches and grass and anything else around the location he has chosen. He has decided specifically to create scultpures that will only stand temporarily, as he searches for a better understanding of life, death, and the passage of time. This film does a fantastic job of exploring the creative process and amazing things that can happen when an artist continues to experiment and look for new opportunities. Through this discovery, Goldsworthy passes on to us his philosophy and unique perspective on the world. It is truly a visually beautiful film and worth watching on that merit alone. For those of us who are artists, it is a must-see, both to learn and identify with someone who has a beautiful understanding of the world.
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58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Art Process as a Form of Nourishment, January 16, 2005
This serene portrait, of the art and philosophy of sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, invites viewers to consider their current relationship to the evolving natural world around us. Mr. Goldsworthy has a deep need for communing with the natural landscape and seeks to rearrange rocks, ice, wood, snow, leaves, vines, flowers, moss, straw and clay in order to "touch the heart of the place". Indeed, the birth of a particular sculpture is often part of an active natural process that is taking place at each location: "The very thing that brings the work to life, is the thing that will have a hand in its death or dissolution".
Andy Goldsworthy's works generally have the quality of being ephemeral and are primarily created within remote natural settings. Therefore the artist's own efforts to document the short life of each work, through photography, have historically been the way that these works come to be seen by the public in a gallery or museum setting. With "Rivers and Tides", director Thomas Riedelsheimer assumes this task of visual documentation. The subtitle of the documentary, "Working With Time", explores how the effects of the rising and falling of the ocean's tides, the flow of water in rivers and streams, plant growth through the seasons and even the movement of farm animals, all influence and interact with the artist's work. The documentary medium of video now makes this fascinating study of time possible.
A wide range of Andy Goldsworthy's completed works are filmed, many being created specifically for this program. The work was made throughout a number of different cycles of the seasons and in at least four major locations: Nova Scotia, Canada; Penpont, Scotland; Storm King, New York and Digne, France. The ninety-minute documentary presents Mr. Goldsworthy as the sole narrator of his creative process. The artist is shown scouting locations, gathering materials and using mostly his own hands to create works featuring incredible juxtapositions of physical form and color.
Composer and musician Fred Frith provides subtle sonic accents to this visual focus at interesting occasions within an otherwise partly silent journey. Frith's haunting score is thoroughly integrated with the visual beauty and almost fanatical range of perspective in Mr. Riedelsheimer's documentary cinematography.
"Andy Goldsworthy: Rivers and Tides" can be recommended, with confidence, to those with an interest in a holistic approach to contemporary art.
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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
profound and moving, December 2, 2004
I became enamoured of Andy Goldsworthy the first time I saw his book "Collaborations with Nature" -- here is an artist who works with nature, seeing possibilities in colors and compositions that, instead of reinventing what nature created, instead simply rearranges it in a way that deepens and enhances our understanding of the world, and of ourselves.
I had heard about "Rivers and Tides" and waited a long time to see it at a local art theater... and found that the man himself is as calm, as philosophical, and as elegant as the work he creates. In a peaceful and graceful documentary, allowing us the time we need to really absorb the beauty of his creations, Thomas Riedelsheimer has filmed his process and his thoughts as respectfully as the completed work. The soundtrack is exquisite and perfect as well.
Since buying the DVD just a week ago, I have watched it four times. Seeing him at the edge of the low tide in a cold grey sea patiently stacking rock upon rock, speaking in his quiet voice about the process of connecting with the stone, and then watching as the finished piece stands strong and solid against the incoming tide that devours it inch by inch -- wondering what the sea will do with this gift -- and then at the first blush of dawn, watching the tide ease out again, revealing the monolith, intact and serene -- this is magic at its purest.
Andy Goldsworthy is not like any other artist I have encountered. He is a simple man, living in a village in Scotland, who sees the connection between trees and earth, between sheep and the fields they graze, and between water in all its forms and the surfaces it moves across. He shows us how to see new possibilities, and how to have the patience to work with what we find. He shares his process with us in an intimate way, and I feel blessed to have this glimpse into this place where man dances with nature. It is simple, it is complex, it is profound, and it moves me and inspires me each time I watch it.
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