WORK OF THE WEEK: Richard Long, Untitled, 1991

Richard Long
Untitled, 1991
River Avon Mud on handmade paper
Unframed: 17.4 x 22 cm / 6 ⅞ x 8 ⅝ in.
Framed: 24.4 x 29.4 cm / 9 ½ x 11 ½ in.

'I like the idea that I can leave or make a universal sign which is just the mark of a human, but not necessarily the idiosyncratic or personal sign of an individual.'
- Richard Long

Sir Richard Long lives and works in Bristol, the city in which he was born, yet his work has taken him all over the world to the most remote, untouched terrains. His art involves walking hundreds of miles, often alone over a series of days or weeks, and then creating sculptures by repeatedly walking in a line or circle, marking the landscape. These universally recognised symbols are also created with the natural materials available to him, such as rocks, mud or sticks. He then photographs his work, sharing the image of the sculpture rather than the sculpture itself, therefore pushing the boundaries of defining what sculpture is. Sometimes, he dismantles an entire work after photographing it, returning the landscape to how he found it. On the other hand, many of his sculptures remain intact, often found and built on by other walkers, such as is the case for his 1974 piece, A Thousand Stones Added to the Footpath Cairn.

The work of Richard Long has never conformed to the parameters of artistic media. When he began making art as a student in the 1960's, studying at St. Martin's School of Art in London, the Pop-culture movement was in full swing. The art world was 'dominated by the aesthetics of Anthony Caro and the New Generation sculpture, which meant bright colours, fiberglass and plastic.' For Long, who in 1967 created his most famous early work, A Line Made by Walking, being apart from this overwhelming movement did not deter him. As such, he kept on walking, and he is now recognised as one of the most significant creators and thinkers in contemporary art.

The New Art Centre is celebrating this piece, Untitled, in light of Richard Long's recent commission from The National Gallery, where he has made a large circle titled Mud Sun which sits at the top of the main staircase in the Sainsbury Wing. Despite being made almost three decades apart, both pieces use tidal mud from the River Avon, near his home city of Bristol. Both works present Long's signature circle, yet whilst Untitled comprises twenty thumb-prints, Mud Sun depicts the individual lines and swirls where his fingers have drawn. The evidence of how he created these pieces is preserved within them, they are made with hands marks, which are at once universal and his own. These pieces differ stylistically, but both works refer back to the foundations that uphold his career: the landscape, its materials, and his body.