Thursday, November 29, 2012

Land art: the 1970 Great Salt Lake sculpture called Spiral Jetty


Spiral Jetty
Originally uploaded by rlonas
Spiral Jetty is an earthwork sculpture constructed in 1970 by American sculptor Robert Smithson, says Wikipedia.

Built on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point in Utah entirely of mud, salt crystals, basalt rocks and water, Spiral Jetty forms a 1,500-foot-long (460 m), 15-foot-wide (4.6 m) counterclockwise coil jutting from the shore of the lake.

The water level of the lake varies with precipitation in the mountains surrounding the area, revealing the jetty in times of drought and submerging it during times of normal precipitation.

Originally black basalt rock against ruddy water, Spiral Jetty is now largely white against pink due to salt encrustation.

Please see more at Land Art, Environmental art, Site-specific art and Sustainable art.

No comments: