WORKS OF THE WEEK: Richard Long, Avon Mud on Wood, 2005
Richard Long
Untitled, 2005
River Avon mud on wood, signed and dated underneath
Height: 6.3cm, Diameter: 27cm
Height: 2 ½ in, Diameter: 10 ⅝ in.
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“All my work is simple. I like the primal energy of just handprints or fingerprints. It’s like cave paintings. My materials are elemental: stone, water, mud, days, nights, rivers, sunrises. And our bodies are elemental: we are animals, we make marks, we leave traces, we leave footprints.”
Richard Long’s works in Avon mud have been a fundamental aspect of his practice from the outset. Sourced from the River Avon in Bristol where he was born, brought up, and currently lives, his fingerprint works render an autobiographical quality, as well as drawing upon cultural histories. Long explained that one of the first things he ever made were mud pies on the front path of his parent’s home, and years later in 1969, created a mud spiral in footprints on the floor of the Konrad Fischer Gallery.
Each fingerprint work, sometimes applied directly onto the wall, sometimes on natural materials like driftwood and handmade paper, is executed both spontaneously and with a great deal of care over the rhythmic and meditative patterning. For Long, these works are analogous to drawing, providing a direct and natural means of recording.
Richard Long
Untitled, 2005
River Avon mud on wood, signed and dated underneath
Height: 7.5cm, Diameter: 37cm
Height: 2 ⅞ in, Diameter: 1ft 2 ⅝ in.
RL6
Richard Long was born in 1945 in Bristol, UK. He is considered one the most influential artists of his generation. After studying at the West of England College of Art, he graduated from St Martin’s School of Art and Design, London, in 1966. Walking is a central aspect of Long’s practice, as it brings principles of order, action, and idea. Since the mid-1960s he has taken countless walks throughout the world, from mountains, through to deserts, shorelines, rivers, and moorland. He records his passage with photographs, maps, footprints, and text works, creating a powerful narrative of time, distance, and experience within a landscape.
In 1976, Richard Long represented Britain at the Venice Biennale, and was awarded the Turner Prize in 1989. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions at numerous major international museums and institutions, including De Pont Museum, Tillburg, Netherlands; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA; the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland; Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Nice, France; and Tate Modern, UK. In 1990, he was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the Ministry of Sculpture, France, and in 2009, was awarded the highest international distinction for achievement in the arts, the Praemium Imperiale Prize for Sculpture.
Richard Long’s work is included in several major public collections, including the Tate, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris.
Richard Long
Tame Buzzard Line, 2001
Flint
0.71m x 35.15 m
115ft 4 x 2ft 4 in.
Tame Buzzard Line is a permanent commissioned work by Richard Long at Roche Court Sculpture Park. 35 metres of local flint stretch in a straight line, connecting two of the most beautiful trees in the park: the 400-year-old Holm Oak near the house, and the 200-year-old ash tree at the bottom of the lawn. During a visit to Roche Court, Richard Long observed a buzzard flying over his head between the two trees, and chose to map its flight with this work.