Robert Smithson Earth Art Analysis
A Comparative Look at Robert Smithson’s Earth Art and 1960s Minimalism
By Marcus Pearson
05/25/10
While walking through the Guggenheim Museum you walk past several different works of art. A nice painting here, a cool sculpture there, some interesting lights, it’s all pretty neat. You then walk into a room with two seemingly opposite types of art. On one side of the room you see a rock pile and a few pictures of some big rocks. The other side has some odd looking sculptures and several paintings that don’t look like much at all. You think that maybe the curator of the museum got mixed up and had his gardening supplies delivered to the boring shaped room of the museum instead of his house.
You ask the guard what was going on in this particular room. He says that on one side is the Earth Art of Robert Smithson and on the other is several examples of Minimalism art. You are still confused of why the two pieces are in the same room so you ask him to explain the relationship. He says that on the surface they might appear to have no similarities but they in fact have many. He directs you to an essay written by a Western Oregon University undergrad named Marcus Pearson. . . …show more content…
Smithson started his career painting. He painted throughout high school in the New Jersey public schools and while studying at the Art Students League while taking night classes. At 18, in 1956 he attended the Brooklyn Museum School after he served in the army for a short while. The next year he moved to New York City and was in the center of the art world. During these early years he produced primarily homoerotic work, making collages out of clippings that he got from beefcake magazines, sci fi, and some early Pop Art. His first paintings were Abstract Expressionist in
By Marcus Pearson
05/25/10
While walking through the Guggenheim Museum you walk past several different works of art. A nice painting here, a cool sculpture there, some interesting lights, it’s all pretty neat. You then walk into a room with two seemingly opposite types of art. On one side of the room you see a rock pile and a few pictures of some big rocks. The other side has some odd looking sculptures and several paintings that don’t look like much at all. You think that maybe the curator of the museum got mixed up and had his gardening supplies delivered to the boring shaped room of the museum instead of his house.
You ask the guard what was going on in this particular room. He says that on one side is the Earth Art of Robert Smithson and on the other is several examples of Minimalism art. You are still confused of why the two pieces are in the same room so you ask him to explain the relationship. He says that on the surface they might appear to have no similarities but they in fact have many. He directs you to an essay written by a Western Oregon University undergrad named Marcus Pearson. . . …show more content…
Smithson started his career painting. He painted throughout high school in the New Jersey public schools and while studying at the Art Students League while taking night classes. At 18, in 1956 he attended the Brooklyn Museum School after he served in the army for a short while. The next year he moved to New York City and was in the center of the art world. During these early years he produced primarily homoerotic work, making collages out of clippings that he got from beefcake magazines, sci fi, and some early Pop Art. His first paintings were Abstract Expressionist in