Andy Goldsworthy
Andy Goldsworthy
Andy Goldsworthy, OBEis a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist producing site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionSculptor
Date of Birth26 July 1956
differences theatre energy
The difference between a theatre with and without an audience is enormous. There is a palpable, critical energy created by the presence of the audience.
winter artist years
Winter makes a bridge between one year and another and, in this case, one century and the next.
heart successful unbroken
At its most successful, my 'touch' looks into the heart of nature; most days I don't even get close. These things are all part of a transient process that I cannot understand unless my touch is also transient - only in this way can the cycle remain unbroken and the process be complete.
giving understanding grows
Understanding the materials I work with... gives me a deeper understanding of my place. And it's helped me make sense of the changes that are happening to me as I grow older.
rain reality ice
If I'm going to understand the land, I have to understand the wind, the snow, the rain, the leaves, the ice, and changes in temperature. It just reflects a reality for me.
beauty pain
Beauty is what sustains things, although beauty is underwritten by pain and fear.
photography understanding way
The photography is not the aim of the work; the articulation of the work through photography is another way of understanding what's going on and what's happening outside.
thinking potatoes different
A lot of my work is like picking potatoes; you have to get into the rhythm of it. It is different than patience. It is not thinking. It is working with the rhythm.
pavement steps sitting
We leave our presence in the pavement. We're walking over it, sitting on steps.
art school mean
When I was at art school, a lot of art education is about art being a means of self-expression, and as an 18-year-old I didn't know if I had a huge amount I wanted to express. It was a big moment when I decided I wanted to shift the emphasis or the intention of my art from something I disgorged myself upon and something that actually fed me or made me see the world or understand the world.
people sculpture movement
I am not a performer but occasionally I deliberately work in a public context. Some sculptures need the movement of people around them to work.
summer nature powerful
Occasionally I have come across a last patch of snow on top of a mountain in late May or June. There's something very powerful about finding snow in summer.
running water leaving
I've laid down in dried up streambeds, leaving a shadow. And then, five minutes later, it's flash flooded, and where I once laid is now running water, which would've washed me away, you know? There's that power and danger often in places that look so calm and pastoral to begin with.
important trying stones
When I’m working with materials it’s not just the leaf or the stone, it’s the processes that are behind them that are important. That’s what I’m trying to understand, not a single isolated object but nature as a whole.