12/14/2023 0 Comments Spiral jetty utah swimmingIndeed, my computer screensaver for more than the past decade (and across four or five computers that have served me during this period), has been one of my photographs of Spiral Jetty situated in its vast landscape. The highly complex experience of being with it in this particular location has driven this work further into my psyche than most. And again on another occasion, I took a small group of teenaged men to camp overnight there.įor over 14 years, I lived less than two and a half hours drive away from this significant work of art and the more I visited it, the more I felt a stewardship for it. On yet another occasion I accompanied Dr Lyndell Brown and Professor Charles Green from Melbourne University as their guide to the Jetty. On another occasion I took the legendary art historian Michael Fried to see it. On one occasion, as a professional development experience, I took the entire staff from the university art museum I was directing at the time. This was its condition every other time I visited – and there were many more visits. Against the reflective, crystalline whites and pinks of the salt-encrusted lake’s bed, the dark basalt spiral was both starkly visible and ominous. The next time I visited, the water’s edge was easily 200 metres beyond the spiral’s farthest point from the shore. However from the top of the hill behind, I could see the large spiral shadow beneath the water and Spiral Jetty became more distinct. There were sufficient rocks visible to faintly discern the spiral form as I stood on the lake’s shore. Only the tips of the largest rocks were visible above the water line when I first visited Robert Smithson’s 1,500-foot long Spiral Jetty (1970) in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. Thank you Campbell - and stay tuned to find out what Spiral UQ is all about! In this article, UQ Art Museum Director Dr Campbell Gray reflects on his time with Robert Smithson’s 1,500-foot long Spiral Jetty (1970).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |