Red Sand Throws in the Gotemba Quarry

Location

Country: Japan
City: Tokyo
Place: British Embassy

These photographs document a work of art made by Andy Goldsworthy in the shadow of Mount Fuji in Japan. The work itself consisted of the artist throwing red earth into Lake Tanuki. Goldsworthy is one of a number of contemporary British artists who make transient works of art using natural materials. He uses photography as a medium for recording his works. An inscription under the central group of three photographs tells us that the work was made in the late afternoon, one day in May 1993. Goldsworthy is known for his works in stone, wood, snow, ice and various organic materials.

Andy Goldsworthy is one of several contemporary British artists, like Hamish Fulton and Richard Long, who are associated with ‘Land Art.’ As a boy his first jobs were labouring work on farms – physical activities involving repetitive processes that appealed to him and which he later likened to the way he makes art. He studied fine art at Bradford College of Art in the mid 1970s, completing his BA at Preston Polytechnic in 1978. His first outdoor sculptures were made on the beach at Morecambe Bay while a student in Preston. Since then he has produced sculptures, installations and photographic works in numerous locations around the world. A major retrospective of his work was held in 2007 at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield, for which he made both outdoor and indoor installations.

Places

Japan

Subjects

topography, landscape C20th, conceptual art, volcano, quarry

Materials & Techniques

triptych, photograph (as object name), unique, cibachrome

Artist

Andy Goldsworthy (1956 - )

Title

Red Sand Throws in the Gotemba Quarry

Date

1993

Medium

9 unique cibachrome prints in 3 frames (triptych)

Acquisition

Purchased from Michael Hue-Williams Fine Arts Ltd, March 2000

Inscription

br below centre group: RED GOTEMBA QUARRY EARTH THROWN INTO A LAKE TO THE WEST OF MT FUJI. LATE AFTERNOON. ANDY GOLDSWORTHY. JAPAN MAY 1993

Provenance

Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art Ltd, London

GAC number

17457