리처드 롱의 대지미술- ‘걷기(Walking)'의 의미를 중심으로

Abstract

Land art emerged as an opposition to Formalist Modernism art in the late 1960s. Land artists chose a nature or an natural environment as a new artistic field instead of canvas. A vastness and a possibility of a nature has brought an opportunity to change the definition of previous artistic works, which were defined material and perpetual. Additionally it overcame a limitation of gallery and broadened the concept of art into infinity. According to an approach to nature, land art can be divided into two groups. One is American land art which modified nature on a huge scale. Another is European land art. It considered an individual artist's activity important and dealt with nature friendly. In this study, Richard Long's works which showed the relationship with man, nature and art through "walking" were explored. Richard Long tried to be sympathized with a nature through walking and created his works based on a motion of nature and time scale. First, walking is the way to be sympathized with nature to him, so his works has been existing as some pieces of nature which imply birth, change and dying. This thought came from the love of nature and the tradition of English romanticism. Second, walking is the way to various cultural events and a kind of self-discipline. Walking alone is the chance to meet and to awaken himself. Also the journey through walking is the creative action to make some relationship with different culture. Third, walking is a record of nature and scale of time and space as well. For walking, a choice of place is the most important. Moreover, full understanding on the particular place is necessary. Richard Long's works are can be divided into three groups, which are outdoor works, map · picture · text works and indoor works. Through walking, he tended to stay in nature and leave some traces there, and collect some natural pieces. After he arranged those pieces, and then took pictures of them, he displayed them with some sculptures in indoor exhibition. For map, it must be the final record to show his general plan and his destination. On the other hand, picture can be another record to show various landscape and space during his journey. Text arrangement and sign arrangement can be a tool to remind of all experiences from his five senses as well as visual experience. In short, we can find some pairs of opposite image--nature and man, moment and perpetuity, time and space, particularity and universality, walking and stay, inside and outside-in his works. American land artists expressed man's power in their works through modifying nature according to their need. But Richard Long tried to find new relationship between man and nature itself and he suggested several possibilities to develope land art into ecological art through "walking" with meditation. Especially, his journey, experience and awareness must be valuable because he understood this process is not a completed work but a whole process completing work with nature, life and art.