Andy Goldsworthy, Fifty Years #1

Edinburgh #9

My main reason for going to Edinburgh was to see the new exhibition: Andy Goldsworthy - Fifty Years. He is internationally recognised for his work with natural materials such as clay, stones, reeds, branches, leaves, snow and ice. Over fifty years, he has created a unique body of work addressing our relationship with the land. He grew up in Leeds and studied art at Bradford (like Hockney) and then Preston, beginning then to experiment with ephemeral works in the sands of Morecambe Bay and on the Yorkshire moors. He now lives and works in Scotland. I've been intrigued by his creativity and thought processes since I first saw his work at an exhibition in Leeds way back in 1990. (See HERE for the post I wrote recently about my print from that exhibition.)

The Edinburgh exhibition filled two whole floors of the Royal Scottish Academy building, some of it looking back over his past work but with several large pieces created specifically in response to this space. 

My first photo shows a work called 'Fence' - stretched lengths of rusty barbed wire that made a screen. It refers to the obstacles that Andy often encounters when working outdoors: boundaries, borders, fences, misunderstandings or obstructive people. He always hopes he can find a way through. 

The entrance stairway had this wool runner, placed where once a carpet had been. It's made of gathered up tufts of sheep's wool, cast from sheep before they get shorn. Andy has attached the fleece to netting, with thorns. The coloured marks are the dyes the farmers use to show which ewes have been served by the ram, who they belong to and what lambs they've had. 

Bullrushes from Scottish lochs have had their seed heads removed so that the stems can be laced together, thin end of one into the wide end of another, forming a hanging, tent-like structure illuminated from above by a skylight. 

Red earth dug from the Lowther Hills in Dumfriesshire was dried, crushed, sieved and mixed with water. Made into a workable material, Andy used it to coat an entire wall, where it cracked as it dried. The vivid red comes from its high iron content, as does the red in our blood. We are bound to the earth. 

On first sight, entering the room, 'Oak Passage' appeared to be an impenetrable mass of branches. Only when seen from either end was the way through revealed, a path to be walked. (Though I walked with some trepidation for fear of toppling over and ruining the whole thing!) The branches are from storm damaged trees, but the oak floor is also very much a part of the artwork - once a living tree. 

The sinuous form on the wall at the far end reminded me of a snake or perhaps bacteria under a microscope. Close inspection revealed it to be fronds of bracken, with the leaves stripped from one side, affixed to the walls with thorns.  

'Flags' was a 2019 work created for the Rockefeller Centre in New York, which has numerous flagpoles, usually flying flags from various countries or the 50 US states. Andy replaced each state flag with a blank flag dyed with the reddest earth he could find in each state. The connection between a flag and the land it represents is powerful. These flags are intended to transcend borders; a work about connection rather than division.  

I rather liked the view of visitors' feet underneath. We were all, hopefully, connected by our enjoyment of Andy's work.