BOOK / ROBERT SMITHSON

ART

Robert Smithson was one of the most revolutionary artists of the 20th century. His magnum opus, Spiral Jetty, built on the Great Salt Lake, Utah, embodies the spirit of some of the greatest monuments of past civilizations, while remaining contemporary in concept and execution. Smithson was a prolific and original writer, whose views profoundly influenced the course of contemporary art. This Selection of Writings brings together texts published by the artist in magazines such as Artforum, Arts International, and Arts of Environment, between 1966 and 1973. His distinctive analytical capacity, his critical approach to art and the social, cultural, and economic dynamics generated around it, make his writings both intrinsic and independent of his artistic creation. Smithson was born in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1938, and died in 1973 in Amarillo, Texas, in a tragic plane crash. A year earlier, he wrote: “I am not interested in works of art that suggest a ‘process’ within the metaphysical confines of a neutral room. There is no freedom in such behavioral games. The artist who behaves like a B.F. Skinner rat, who performs ‘tricky little tricks,’ should be avoided. A contained process is not—in any sense—a process. I am inclined toward an art that takes into account the direct effect of the elements, as they exist in everyday life, independent of representation.”

Title: Robert Smithson
Pages: 192
Size: 14 x 21 cm
Weight: 250 grams
Genre: Art
Language: Spanish
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Alias
Year: 2014