Whilst many of today’s artists shun watercolours and oils in favour of more modern materials, there’s something rather magical about nature captured on canvas. Landscapes of trees, mountains or rivers can bring a little piece of the countryside into a home. British artist Andy Goldsworthy has an entirely different approach to his work. Rivers and Tides explores how and why he takes his art into the ‘wild’.
Andy Goldsworth is a world-renowned landscape sculptor, working in wood, ice, stone and leaves. Filmed over the course of a year, director Thomas Riedelsheimer follows Goldsworthy through four countries and four seasons. His creative process is quite unique. Instead of meticulous planning, he derives inspiration from the natural environment around him. At the whim of the weather, his art has a rather apt element of impermanence. Instead of using the natural world as his canvas, he chooses to create art which interacts and intertwines with nature.
It’s fascinating to watch as he draws inspiration from, and embellishes, nature. His work is fraught with uncertainty and risk. Although he counters this by photographing his pieces. There’s something rather moving about this creative process and the temporary nature of the art which it produces. Rivers and Tides is a beguiling and beautiful documentary about the interaction between art, the artist and the natural world.
https://vimeo.com/53943714
River and Tides is released on Blu-ray by Curzon Artificial Eye on Monday.
