Environmental Art
Started: 1960s
DO NOT MISS ON
THE ART STORY
 | Earth Art Movement Page |
 | Post-Minimalism Movement Page |
 | Conceptual Art Movement Page |
KEY ARTISTS
 | Andy Goldsworthy Quick View Artist Page |
| Andy Goldsworthy |  |
| Andy Goldsworthy creates site-specific, delicate, and intricate Earthworks. He often uses photography to capture his nature-based artworks at their apexes. Art Story: Andy Goldsworthy Artist Page | ||
 | Agnes Denes Quick View Artist Page |
| Agnes Denes | |
| Anges Denes created art with a focus on environmental concerns - she is known for her installations in a range of media, working from writings and sculpture to computer rendered diagrams. Art Story: Agnes Denes Artist Page | ||
 | Olafur Eliasson Quick View Artist Page |
| Olafur Eliasson | |
| Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist who is known for his sculptures and large-scale installations that create diverse pieces intended to propose critical interventions within existing social systems, an effort that is designed to inspire debate and fresh perceptions, or to catalyze change. Art Story: Olafur Eliasson Artist Page | ||
"We often forget that WE ARE NATURE. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we've lost our connection to ourselves"
Summary of Environmental Art
Since primitive man first illustrated streaks of rain and lightning on the interior walls of their cave homes, artists have been entranced with depicting our natural environment. Yet, for centuries, the landscape's appearance in art was meant to construe either awe for our natural world, or as a background subject for the documentation of human narratives. In the 20th century, alongside rising global concerns surrounding the state of the environment's health, and our impact as humans upon it, many artists started creating works in collaboration with the physical world to draw attention to ecological issues as well our relationship and contribution to them. As a more defined concept, Environmental art has gained more traction since the 1990s when artists began to think about their surroundings not just in terms of lived or built space, but as a cohesive system in which humans have a central part to play.
Key Ideas
Beginnings:
Environmental art, also known as ecological art, encompasses several different forms and practices that engage with, and represent the environment. It is distinct in its less specific time period and greater scope of art. As Professor John E. Thornes noted, "Environmental art is [...] a new genre to describe works of art that are not only directly representational of the environment (the 19th century wonders such as John Constable's Cloud Series, Claude Monet's London Series, or Paul Cézanne's Mont Sainte Victoire Series), but also works of art that are clearly nonrepresentational and performative in terms of much less direct interpretation but more active engagement of the audience such as Richard Long's A Line Made by Walking or James Turrell's Skyspaces.
Important Art and Artists of Environmental Art | |
 Artwork Images | Ocean Landmark (1978-80)Artist: Betty Beaumont Artwork description & Analysis: Betty Beaumont's work is deeply socially conscious, often actively highlighting sustainability and engaging with contemporary issues. In creating this piece, Beaumont was looking for a way to take waste material from a power plant and transform it into something that would actively benefit the environment. She collaborated with a team of scientists in order to create the work that lies to this day in the Atlantic Ocean, 40 miles away from New York Harbor. By taking coal waste and reforming it into inert blocks, Beaumont was able to fashion what has become an artificial reef, deep under the sea. Though viewers are unable to view the piece because of its location, New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program created a virtual reality experience of the sculpture in 2000. The installation is apparently a fish haven, as described by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Inert coal waste |
 Artwork Images | Pinfold Cones (1981-85)Artist: Andy Goldsworthy Artwork description & Analysis: Andy Goldsworthy is famed for his celebration of organic pattern, shape, and texture in his site-specific works that explore the inherent beauty of the environment, the inevitable cycles of rebirth and decay, and co-creation between man and natural material. He has commented that he sees his work as "collaboration with nature." In this example, we see this union through his profound appreciation with what nature has to offer to anyone who takes the time to look closely. Limestone cones - Brough, Cumbria |
 Artwork Images | Wheatfield, a Confrontation (1982)Artist: Agnes Denes Artwork description & Analysis: Hungarian-American Agnes Denes is one of the best-known Environmental artists, producing work that pushes the boundaries of what art can be, crossing over into other disciplines such as activism. This piece is one of her most famous, and extremely ambitious works. With the help of several volunteers, Denes planted a two-acre wheat field in a landfill in Lower Manhattan. The ground was prepared with soil, planted with wheat, and then harvested. The piece survived for three months. Wheat and soil on a landfill in Manhattan |
More Environmental Art Artwork and Analysis:
Content compiled and written by Katie Da Cunha Lewin
Edited and revised, with Synopsis and Key Ideas added by Kimberly Nichols
" Movement Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Katie Da Cunha Lewin
Edited and revised, with Synopsis and Key Ideas added by Kimberly Nichols
Available from:
First published on 26 Nov 2018. Updated and modified regularly. 
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