Andy Goldsworthy Fifty Years - Edinburgh

Andy Goldsworthy - Wool Runner

 

Andy Goldsworthy Fifty Years is currently showing at the National Gallery (Royal Scottish Academy) in Edinburgh.  Goldsworthy is a land artist, known for working with natural materials.  Much of his work that you may be familiar with takes the form of outdoor installations. The exhibits made especially for this exhibition are in response to the Royal Scottish Academy building.  Overall there's lots to see - 3D installations, 2D & 3D artwork, photos, film and it's all fascinating.  I'd say it's a "must see" if you can make it.  Of everything, it was the large scale installations that I liked best.  Here's a flavour... 

When you arrive you are greeted by Wool Runner (see above) which is a series of fleeces showing the farmers' colour coded markings, that are attached to sheep netting with thorns.

Andy Goldsworthy - Fence

At the top of the stairs is Fence, made of rusty barbed wire, stretched between two of the buildings columns. The columns are protected by a layer of rope that is wrapped round them. Goldsworthy comments about the fences/barriers/obstacles that he encounters in his work, and how he hopes to find a way through.

Andy Goldsworthy - Fence (detail)

In this area are two sheep paintings.  A mineral block (sheep food) was placed in a field of sheep on a canvas. The weather, number of sheep and how often they visited the food source all affected the outcome.  The white central circle is where the mineral block was placed and later removed...

Andy Goldsworthy - Sheep Painting

Andy Goldsworthy - Sheep Painting (detail)

In an adjacent room is Skylight, made from bullrushes, collected from Dumfries and Galloway where Goldsworthy is based, and also from Angus. The seed heads have been removed and the thinner end of one is inserted into the thicker end of another to make this floor to ceiling installation around a central skylight.

Andy Goldsworthy - Skylight

Andy Goldsworthy - Skylight

Gravestones is seen as a partner piece to Skylight.  Gravestones being from the earth and Skylight reaching for the light.  The stones are collected from graveyards across Dumfries and Galloway and are those that are displaced when graves are dug.  A larger Gravestones project is planned and there are maps showing where all the stones have come from.... 

Andy Goldsworthy - Gravestones

Blank flags were dyed with the reddest earth from each of the 50 American states, originally for an installation at the Rockefeller Centre in New York. You can see them displayed here. We are told that Goldsworthy hoped that the connection of flag and land would offer connection rather than division and a different sort of defence of the land (environmetal rather than fighting).

Andy Goldsworthy - Flags

Oak Passage has been constructed from fallen branches and serves as a reminder that the oak floor was once a tree.  At the far end is Dock Drawing and at the other end a swirl of ferns pinned on with thorns...

Andy Goldsworthy - Oak Passage
(Dock Drawing on the far wall)

Andy Goldsworthy - Ferns and Thorns

Red Wall was made by plastering sieved, dried, crushed, clay rich earth, dug from the Lowther Hills in Dumfriesshire, mixed with water onto a backing that fits the wall space.  As it dried it has cracked and as the exhibition progresses chunks may fall off.  Its redness comes from its high iron content.  Goldsworthy reminds us that our blood also has a high iron content and suggests that this commonality binds us to the earth...

Andy Goldsworthy - Red Wall

Andy Goldsworthy - Red Wall (detail)

I found the Hare Blood Snow paintings(?) rather gruesome.  Goldsworthy hit a hare, while driving and took it home, disemboweled it, filled it with snow, hung it up and then as the snow melted it dripped blood onto paper below.

Andy Goldsworthy - Hare Blood Snow (detail)

Keep your eyes peeled as you wander round so you don't miss anything...

Andy Goldsworthy - Barbed Wire Ball

There are also lots of varied photographs...

Andy Goldsworthy - Black Sand, Morecambe Bay, Lancashire (detail) 

Andy Goldsworthy - Iron. Rising out of the ground in the valley below. Collected and painted onto a dead hawthorn tree.

And don't miss this one as you're leaving...

Andy Goldsworthy - Work Gloves

On until 2 November 2025, this exhibition is well worth a visit.  The Royal Scottish Academy has a cafe and is a short walk from Waverley station.