Spiral Jetty
Factual Information:
From: Great Salt Lake, Utah
Artist: Robert Smithson
Period: 1970
Artist: Robert Smithson
Period: 1970
General Information:
This artwork was a large jetty built on the great salt lake, and was intended to be temporary, a defining characteristic of the art movement that it was a part of, the environmentalist movement. The sculpture is build of mud, salt crystals, and rocks. The entire sculpture forms a 1,500 foot long 15 foot wide coil jutting from the shore of the lake, and is sometimes visible and sometimes submerged. The environmental movement is characteristic of using natural materials and making shapes that were sometimes never going to be scene or ever appreciated, but rather were made for a single moment, not to stand the test of time.
Why This Artwork?
This artwork was chosen because of its importance to the environmental movement, as well as the debate it has raised over preservation of the sculpture. Also the sculpture was chosen because it carrys many of the same characteristics of environmental artworks, and is one of the few that remains preserved.