Analysis of 3D Artist Richard Long

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Walking. A natural progression in the development of a person. From the day a baby begins to walk, it becomes a fundamental activity that he does for the rest of his life. Walking is a universal movement that we do not consciously think about in order to do it. Walking a line is probably the easiest thing a human being can do to mark his place, to have his footsteps imprinted on the land.

Richard Long, a British contemporary artist, engages with the world by walking, and interacts with natural materials and sometimes, the forces of nature. To Long, “walking provides the means of exposing oneself to new, changing perceptions and experiences and of acquiring an expanded awareness of our surroundings.” This affinity that he shares with nature stems from his childhood. In a conversation with Denise Hooker, a writer and art historian, Richard Long shared that he “used to go hitch-hiking with (his) dad and on cycling and youth-hostelling holidays with him as a boy” and that his father, who was a teacher, “(shared) his love of nature and walking in the local places with (him) and his schoolchildren.”

Born in Bristol, England on 2 June 1945, Richard Long studied at the West of England College of art, Bristol, from 1962 to 1965, and at St. Martin’s School of Art, London, from 1966 to 1968. In 1964, Long was already making Land Art and exploring the idea of impermanence, and started to use walking as an art form in 1967. He rose to prominence in the late 1960s and was among a generation of British artists who extended sculpture beyond the confines of traditional materials. As cited on Long’s website:

In the nature of things:

Art about mobility, lightness and freedom.

Simple creative acts of walking and marking

about place, locali...

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...thods in landscape art as what he does is habitual, I appreciate his dedication or obsession in walking, his interaction with elements from the globe and how he has found his place in doing so.

Works Cited

Long, R. , Moorhouse, P. & Hooker, D. (2005). Walking the Line. Great Britain: Thames and Hudson Ltd, London.

Long, R. Richard Long. Retrieved from http://www.richardlong.org/.

Kirkpatrick, C. (1994). Richard Long: No Where, Interview – Piers Arts Centre, Orkney. Retrieved from http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/articles/record.html?record=293.

Dexter, E. (1991). Richard Long: Tate Gallery, London - Sculpture, p. 67 . Retrieved from http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/articles/record.html?record=61.

Tate, Artists Room: Richard Long. Retrieved on 10 November 2011 from http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/artistrooms/artist.do?id=1525.

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