the last day of exhibition, good weather and a suggestion by friend and local glass artist rachel prompted us to make the journey to yorkshire scultpure park yesterday to see the andy goldsworthy. it was well worth the drive, albeit a rather noisy one due to a dodgy exhaust on the car.
although art galleries weren’t really part of my childhood, the sculpture park was a place we did visit as a family largely due the fact that it’s a pleasant place for a walk regardless of whether you’re a fan of large 20thC sculpture not. however, the most exciting work on display yesterday was indoors – four new temporary works by goldsworthy. the highlight for me was definitely ‘leaf stalk room’ – a screen/curtain constructed from horse chestnut leaf stems pinned together with thorns. it stretches the whole width of a large room and just defies gravity and belief that it actually ‘works’. i think rachel described it as ‘drawing in space’ – the leaf stalks look like ink marks just hanging in mid air. amazing. indoor photography was prohibited so no pics i’m afraid.
the other works – an upside-down-nest enclosure constructed from logs and branches, a room with the walls covered in gradually drying and cracking clay, a series of volcano-esque stone mounds with central holes and a huge pine cone shape of interlocking logs were also fascinating, partly because of goldsworthy’s aim to link the gallery with the environment outside environment but i also felt his work lost something from being inside.
an epiphany for me was seeing a goldsworthy exhibition [photos of work] at leeds art gallery when i was 16 – the first time i’d seen his work and the time in life when i discovered a sense of freedom and galleries all at once. i think what attracted me to his work was the fragility and temporary nature of it and the possibility/fantasy that you could stumble across one on a walk in the woods. although you were encouraged to touch the ‘pine cone’, the fragility of the other pieces meant a strictly ‘no touching’ policy and it felt a little like a false preservation. i wanted someone to open the side of the building and watch them gradually erode. that these pieces will be purposely dismantled and returned to nature seems to be hurrying along a more natural decay that is usually present in his work.
at the opposite end of the park, passing some new stone wall pieces along the way, exhibited works included painting made by trampling sheep, snow dripping through the carcass of a dead hare and the full width of building windows smeared with cow dung and a wavy line cleaned across the middle [pictured at top of this post from outside plus two young eager art enthusiasts, dylan and grace]. perhaps tempting ‘modern art is shit’ comparisons there was a sense of randomness and play with these pieces that contrasted with the obviously very carefully constructed works in the underground gallery. the cow dung piece was engaging and the blood and snow paintings rather beautiful.
