rock of ages

November 26, 2006 8:55 AM

Chris Booth Sculpture: "Booth always creates his sculptures for specific sites. They are inspired by and honour each site’s local history, mythology and cultures and require intensive research, and consultation with local indigenous people. Usually gigantic in proportion, these phenomenal sculptures are amazing feats of engineering and balance ..." (via Ursi's Blog)
posted by madamjujujive (17 comments total)

Beautiful. I love good land art like this. It's the antithesis of theory art where the work is just a meagre representation of some silly-ass statement.
posted by fleetmouse at 9:24 AM on November 26, 2006

Thanks madamjujujive. Just gorgeous. And mindboggling.
posted by peacay at 9:40 AM on November 26, 2006

Thanks. The Strata sculptures have that look that always tugs at me to go climbing.
posted by creeptick at 9:42 AM on November 26, 2006

Not sure they're feats of balance. Some, at least, of those rocks look drilled out and supported on the inside.

They're cool, though, for sure. If you haven't, be sure to check out Andy Goldsworthy's work as well.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 9:53 AM on November 26, 2006

Yeah, Goldsworthy's stuff can be great, Booth's less so, I think.

Beautiful. I love good land art like this. It's the antithesis of theory art where the work is just a meagre representation of some silly-ass statement.

That's funny, because the reason why I find his stuff unsatisfying is that the theory surrounding it, or the process by which he comes to make the work, is interesting; the execution is considerably less so.
posted by jack_mo at 10:08 AM on November 26, 2006

(I'm talking about the large site-specific sculptures there, I'm not that familiar with his other work.)
posted by jack_mo at 10:10 AM on November 26, 2006

A few of my favorites Cave, Echo van de Veluwe and Tranekaer-Varder.

I forgot to note that under each work, there is a "more" link that discusses something about how each work was made.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:50 AM on November 26, 2006

Gorgeous, thanks. Reminiscent of (and more accomplished than) Lotte Glob.
posted by Rumple at 11:27 AM on November 26, 2006

Beautiful. I had assumed these were not acts of balance, and don't think that it takes away from the art that they aren't.
posted by maxwelton at 12:32 PM on November 26, 2006

Elephant!
posted by Powerful Religious Baby at 1:20 PM on November 26, 2006

there is a "more" link that discusses something about how each work was made.

That's the best bit! A work like Cave, which is lumpen and rather tedious if you just look at it formally as a piece of sculpture, becomes quite poetic when you know the context (which is what I mean above - Booth working in an interesting way to produce dull results).

Reminiscent of (and more accomplished than) Lotte Glob.

She lives in a rather wonderful house up in Sutherland.
posted by jack_mo at 3:09 PM on November 26, 2006

I have been busy all day and finally got a chance to view these. Wow! They are great. Thanks madam. This one, strata, is really simple, elegant, natural, organic, great.
posted by caddis at 5:21 PM on November 26, 2006

Thanks, mjj. This stuff is interesting, some of it quite lovely. Andy Goldsworthy's been mentioned a few times here, and I'd have to say that for me too, Goldsworthy's work has more elegance: it attains something more like a dialogue between manmade "art" and "nature", just the right balance. Some of these Booth pieces feel more like an imposition on their environment. Of course, that in itself doesn't make them unworthy (no pun intended), and Booth certainly has some fine pieces. I'd say he's an artist definitely worth our attention.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:23 PM on November 26, 2006

Booth<Goldsworthy<Wolfgang Laib

:)
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:56 PM on November 26, 2006

Some of his art will become more affecting as geologic time passes. Imagine going into the woods a thousand years from now and finding one of these works, still in situ,(((( and))))
posted by hortense at 8:46 PM on November 26, 2006

This rocks. Thanks madamjujujive.
posted by hal9k at 6:45 AM on November 27, 2006

These are wonderful.
posted by pointilist at 8:51 PM on November 27, 2006