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The Earth as a Canvas: 25 Monumental Works of Land-Based Art

27 Jun

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

Treating the Earth like a canvas and natural objects like rocks, sticks, sand and ice as art materials, we alter the natural environment to reflect ourselves and our own artistic impulses – even if only temporarily, until these works of land-based art are erased by nature itself.

Animated Land Art by Paul Johnson

For his ‘Earthworks in Motion’ series, artist Paul Johnson takes inspiration from such legendary land artists as Andy Goldsworthy and Jim Denevan, using some of the same techniques but crafting them into stop-motion animations filmed in parks and nature preserves around Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota.

Ash Dome by David Nash

In 1977, sculptor David Nash secretly planted and trained a circle of 22 ash trees to grow into a shape resembling a vortex on an area of land in Wales. 40 years later, they’ve grown enough for the shape to be discernible. Nash says that at the time, during the Cold War and other unrest, planting something that couldn’t be properly enjoyed until the 21st century seemed like a leap of faith.

Van Gogh’s ‘Olive Trees’ Planted in a Field

Vincent Van Goh’s masterpiece painting ‘Olive Trees,’ completed in 1889, comes to life – literally – in a Minneapolis field as artist Stan Herd uses nature as his canvas and paints. The piece was viewable from the air during autumn 2015 and then mowed down in concentric circles reminiscent of Van Gogh’s painting strokes.

Seven Magic Mountains by Ugo Rondinone

Each of Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s ‘Seven Magic Mountains’ made of stacked limestone stands between 30 and 35 feet tall painting in dayglo yellow, red, pink, silver and other colors. They’re set just south of Las Vegas as a monumental work of land art, installed in May 2016 and due to remain in place until May 2018, so there’s still time to see it in person.

Snow Murals by Simon Beck

Simon Beck uses snowshoes to manually imprint dazzling patterns and shapes into snowy fields, photographs them from above and then allows them to be blown away, covered by more snow or trampled. It can take up to 5,000 steps an hour for 10 hours at a time to complete an average piece.

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The Earth As A Canvas 25 Monumental Works Of Land Based Art

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Still Standing Tall: 7 Monumental Statues of the Ancient World

28 Sep

[ By SA Rogers in 7 Wonders Series & Travel. ]

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Perhaps we’ll never know what it was like land on a Greek Island and gaze up at the long-lost Colossus of Rhodes, one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but there are many other amazingly old monumental statues still standing. From the world’s oldest-known colossal sculpture in the sands of Egypt to a 500-year-old mountain god spewing water and smoke in Italy, these 7 wonders take the human figure (and sometimes, human/animal hybrids) to incredible heights.

Leshan Giant Buddha, China

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Carved right out of a cliff face at the confluence of three rivers in the southern Sichuan province of China, the Leshan Giant Buddha stands 233 feet tall from its plinth to the top of its head, making it the largest stone Buddha in the world. Construction began in the year 713, led by a Chinese monk named Hai Tong, who dedicated it to calming the often-rough waters for shipping vessels. He was so dedicated to the project, he reportedly gauged his own eyes out when funding was threatened. But after his death, the money ran out, and construction was stalled for 70 years before his disciples breathed new life into the project. In the end, Hai Tong’s wishes were fulfilled: all the rock that was chipped away from the cliff face fell into the water below, altering the currents and making them safe for passing ships. Today, it’s part of the UNESCO-protected Mount Emei Scenic Area, which also includes 1,000-year-old trees and over 30 temples.

Moai of Easter Island

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Carved by the Rapa Nui people between 1250 and 1500 C.E., the Moai monolithic human figures of Easter Island all feature massively oversized heads, with the largest measuring 33 feet in height. The heaviest one is shorter but squatter, weighing in at 86 tons. Exactly how the statues were made and transported is still somewhat of a mystery, as the tallest would have measured 69 feet in height if it had ever been completed. While many people erroneously call them the ‘Easter Island Heads,’ they’re actually full bodies, often partially buried beneath the soil with intentionally exaggerated proportions. More than 900 of them have been located on the island, and most of them are made from a compressed volcanic ash. Their empty eye sockets once held eyes made of coral with pupils made of black obsidian or red scoria.

Appennine Colossus, Italy

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The youngest statue on this list is notable not just for its striking looks, but the fact that it contains several hidden rooms hiding the cool functions that bring it to life. Carved in the late 1500s by Italian sculptor Giambologna as a symbol of Italy’s Apennine Mountains, the ‘mountain god’ stands 35 feet tall over the grounds of the Villa di Pratolino in Tuscany. One of its interior rooms enables water to pass out of the monster in the god’s hand, which pours like a fountain into the body of water below, and another holds a fireplace so smoke can emerge from his nostrils.

Tirthankara Jain Sculptures of India

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The Jain sculptures in Gwalior, an important city in Madhya Pradesh, India, are cut into the rock faces leading up to the 8th century Gwalior fort. Dating back to the 15th century, the statues depict Tirthankaras, or Teaching Gods, which are worshipped by followers of Jainism. 21 temples are cut into the rock on the southern side, with the tallest idol at 58 feet representing Rishabhanatha or Adinatha, the first Tirthankara.

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Still Standing Tall 7 Monumental Statues Of The Ancient World

[ By SA Rogers in 7 Wonders Series & Travel. ]

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Staggering Statues: 7 Monumental Wonders of the Former Soviet Union

14 Sep

[ By SA Rogers in 7 Wonders Series & Travel. ]

motherland calls statue

Nobody could ever accuse the Soviets of being too modest in the scale of their monuments and colossal sculptures, and they left no shortage of absolutely bonkers concrete and stone creations all over their former territories. In addition to their strange yet beautiful sculptural rural bus stops and all of abstract alien-like monuments they constructed in what was once Yugoslavia, the Soviets took pride in erecting colossal figurative statues that range from awe-inspiring to downright scary.

The Motherland Calls, Volgograd, Russia

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The tallest statue of a woman in the world when pedestals aren’t counted in total height, The Motherland Calls stands 279 feet from the top of its plinth to the tip of its sword, positioned on a hill near Mamayev Kurgan, Volgograd. In 1967, when it was dedicated, it was the tallest statue in the world, period. Built to commemorate the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest clashes in human history, the statue is quite beautiful, but that elegant pose and the jaunty angle of the sword have proven to be a structural concern thanks to shifts in groundwater beneath it. Conservation work began in 2010 to ensure that the 7,900-ton creation remains upright despite not being fixed to its plinth.

Monument of the Bulgarian-Soviet Friendship, Turna Hill, Bulgaria

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The blocky, cubist style of the figures on The Monument of the Bulgarian-Soviet Friendship is certainly distinctive, shared by a number of other Bulgarian monuments built in the same era (including the strikingly beautiful and bizarrely Transformer-like Shumen Monument). Unsurprisingly, the Russian soldiers on the right half of the monument stand taller than those of Bulgaria. Erected on Turna Hill, a historic battleground and the mass grave of soldiers lost to the Russian-Ottoman War, the monument was once covered in bronze elements that were quickly stripped and scrapped when the Soviet Union disbanded, and it’s been abandoned ever since. It’s made of over 10,000 tons of concrete and 1,000 tons of armature wire and was intended to be the end of a grand Communist boulevard that was never built.

Colossal Courage, Belarus

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A stern stone soldier seemingly pops his colossal head out of a mound of stone to frown down at passersby visiting the ruins of Brest Fortress in Belarus, where the Red Army stubbornly held for days against a surprise Nazi attack in 1941 despite being dramatically outnumbered. A writer at CNN called the statue ugly and said it looked constipated back in 2010, and the nation of Belarus responded with outrage, noting that ‘Courage’ is a memorial to those who died. While most monuments in former Soviet territories are disused and sometimes disowned at this point, ‘Courage’ and Brest Fortress are a major point of pride for Belarus and remain a significant tourist attraction.

Superhero-Style Astronaut Sculpture, Moscow, Russia

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Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut and the first man in space, gets a superhero-style commemoration in the form of a 40-foot-tall titanium statue seemingly ready to shoot off into the sky. Erected on Moscow’s Leninsky Avenue in 1980, not far from Lenin’s own mausoleum, the statue features a 90-foot granite pedestal. Gagarin’s first-ever trip to outer space lasted only 108 minutes, and though he escaped death as a backup cosmonaut for the ill-fated Soyuz-1 in 1967, he ultimately died during a routine training flight in 1968. His ashes are embedded into the wall of the Kremlin of Red Square in Moscow.

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Staggering Statues 7 Monumental Wonders Of The Former Soviet Union

[ By SA Rogers in 7 Wonders Series & Travel. ]

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Minimal Luxury: Monumental Concrete Hotel by Tadao Ando

24 May

[ By SA Rogers in Boutique & Art Hotels & Travel. ]

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Master of minimalist architecture Tadao Ando has remodeled a small boutique hotel on Japan’s Shikoku island in a refreshingly spare yet luxurious aesthetic, with few distractions to break up his trademark expanses of concrete and glass. The seven-room Setouchi Aonagi perches on a mountain overlook gazing out onto the glassy surface of the Seto Inland Sea, its narrow rooftop swimming pool extending in the opposite direction like a telescope to focus on the distant skyline.

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In recent years, the Setouchi International Art Festival has brought tourists and press from around the world into this quiet corner of Japan, with the central venues all shining examples of Ando’s work, so it was only natural for the Setouchi Aonagi to ‘join the lineup’ as another architectural masterpiece. The building previously functioned as an art museum and private residence, and was outfitted with interior furnishings the architect deemed unnecessary. His transformation strips away all distractions, giving each spacious suite its own subtle theme.

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In addition to the cinematic rooftop pool, there’s an indoor pool dubbed ‘The Cave’ that can be reserved for private use. The hotel notes that the ‘luminous light’ that pours into the building, as well as the view of the sea, are art in and of themselves – but that a selection of minimal contemporary art is also on hand, sparingly displayed to keep the focus on the architecture and surroundings. One example is a mossy garden installation by Yutaka Ono, mimicking the look of the islands when seen from afar.

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The rooms range from about $ 820 per night for the Garden Suite on the bottom floor to $ 1450 for the Aonagi Suite, which might sound a bit steep until you consider the general cost of travel in Japan and the fact that each room sleeps 3 to 5 guests. Plus, staying in a Tadao Ando creation is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience, after all.

[ By SA Rogers in Boutique & Art Hotels & Travel. ]

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Beach Read: Monumental Concrete Library on the Edge of a Bay

31 Oct

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

beach library 1

If you’ve ever gotten bored with the book you’re reading on the beach and wished you could just run into a seaside library for a new one, here’s the building of your dreams: a stunning modern repository of books so close to the sea, it’s practically on the water. Vector Architects positioned this monumental concrete structure right on the edge of China’s Bohai Bay, about three hours from Beijing, with massive glass doors opening the reading space right onto the sand.

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Oriented to direct nearly all of its views to the water, the library feels strong and solid, anchored to the sand. Of course, it’s hard not to worry about all of those books being ruined in the event of a severe storm. It’s not clear whether the architects have taken any particular precautions against potential disasters, but it certainly looks like a beautiful place to sit and read, especially when the lower doors are all open to the breezes coming off the water.

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Steel roof trusses support the massive canopy roof, which curves down into the wall at the rear of the building. Upper-level benches and tables look out a strip of fixed windows, and a stairway leads to a small rooftop patio. In contrast, a meditation room is insulated from the rest of the space, the only windows a handful of skylights carefully directing natural light.

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The building feels like a real-life version of a series of storm-proof fantasy beach structures by Dionisio Gonzalez – architecture with the heft and wherewithal to stand up to the elements when other buildings would be swept away.

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Type Face: Monumental Figurative Sculptures Made of Text

25 Jun

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

Jaume Plensa Typeface Sculptures 1

Giant human figures made of jumbled steel letters loom over public spaces in a series of monumental typographic sculptures by artist Jaume Plensa. The contemplative seated figures seem to watch over the landscapes and city squares where they have been installed around the world, from London to Rio de Janeiro.

Jaume Plensa Typeface Sculptures 3

(images via: chris huggins, jaume plensa)

Jaume Plensa Typographic Sculpture 2

(images via: terry madeley)

The text seems to wrap around invisible human forms, looking at times as if it is incomplete. Plensa’s work is not just thought-provoking, it is about thought itself and how words can shape our world and the way we interact with it.

Jaume Plensa Typeface Sculptures 4

(images via: terry madeley, jw sherman, anders sandberg)

Plensa has borrowed paragraphs from biblical texts, classic literature like Dante’s Divine Comedy, and poetry by William Blake. Stand beneath or inside one of these massive sculptures and you likely won’t be able to read much of the text – but that’s not the point.

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(images via: tim green, lorraine 1 + 2, liza31337)

Conceptual dualities, like the play between negative and positive space, are intended to stimulate intellectual engagement, connecting the sculptures with the viewers on an intuitive level. The pieces often include ‘doorways’ so viewers can interact with the work, temporarily becoming a part of it.

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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7 Monumental Abandoned Wonders of Military Architecture

05 Mar

[ By Steph in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

Abandoned Military Main

Rusted sea forts, top-secret submarine bases, sprawling military hospital complexes and entire islands still stand as silent reminders of wars long past, from Ukraine to New York’s Hudson River. These seven monumental wonders of abandoned military architecture are steeped in history, often still littered with decommissioned aircraft and pieces of weaponry.

RAF Stenigot, England

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(images via: urban spaceman)

Massive, alien-looking radar dishes litter the landscape at RAF Stenigot, a World War II-era radar station in Lincolnshire, England. Part of the Chain Home radar network, which was intended to provide long range early warning for raids, the site continued to serve for other communication purposes after the war and was decommissioned in 1980. Most of it was demolished by 1996, but four tropospheric scatter dishes still remain, along with a few other structures.

Russian Island Base in the Sea of Japan

Abandoned Military Soviet Base Japan

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(images via: english russia)

A small horseshoe-shaped island in the Sea of Japan that was once the setting of a war over its gold resources, Askold has been abandoned for decades. In 1892, the Headquarters of the Vladivostok Fortress created a permanent observation post there, and it became a point of tension between Russia and Japan. The island is cluttered with the remains of what little was built or left behind – the base of a long-gone pier, derelict lighthouses, rusted artillery, a power station, a command post, barracks and a handful of vehicles.

The island has never been inhabited, and is rarely visited by tourists due to the difficulty of reaching it from the mainland. Unused since World War II, much of the infrastructure has crumbled, and one part of the island is now inaccessible after the collapse of a bridge. Though it was once a place of war, Askold is now remarkably peaceful – and still, incidentally, full of gold.

Beelitz Heilstätten Military Hospital, Berlin

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(images via: arcanum, studiospecialplace, 28dayslater)

This beautiful abandoned 19th century sanitarium complex located in Beelitz, just outside Berlin, was used by the Germans as a military hospital through the second World War and then occupied by the Russians for the same purpose until 1995, well after the German reunification. It was abandoned altogether in 2000. Surrounded by pine woods, the hospital complex consists of about 60 buildings including a surgery, psychiatric ward and rifle range. Its most infamous patient is none other than Adolf Hitler, who recuperated there after an injury sustained in World War I in 1916.

Some of the buildings have been painstakingly restored by a German preservation group, but most of them are left to ruin. It’s a popular destination for urban explorers in the area, but of course, not everyone goes there just to enjoy the bittersweet beauty of such an ornate decaying complex. In 2008, a photographer lured a model to the abandoned operating theater for a photo shoot, and murdered her. Its dark history also includes a period before it was abandoned when a serial killer known as The Beast of Beelitz began to terrorize local women connected to the sanatorium, strangling them with pink lingerie.

People who live in or near the restored buildings do so with caution. Local architect Michael Wetzlaugk bought and converted one of the outbuildings to live with his family, but stresses that he and his son are accomplished marshal artists with a collection of exotic weapons.

[ By Steph in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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360Photography

Posts Tagged ‘Monumental’

The Earth as a Canvas: 25 Monumental Works of Land-Based Art

Animated Land Art by Paul Johnson

Ash Dome by David Nash

Van Gogh’s ‘Olive Trees’ Planted in a Field

Seven Magic Mountains by Ugo Rondinone

Snow Murals by Simon Beck

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
The Earth As A Canvas 25 Monumental Works Of Land Based Art

Still Standing Tall: 7 Monumental Statues of the Ancient World

Leshan Giant Buddha, China

Moai of Easter Island

Appennine Colossus, Italy

Tirthankara Jain Sculptures of India

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Still Standing Tall 7 Monumental Statues Of The Ancient World

Staggering Statues: 7 Monumental Wonders of the Former Soviet Union

The Motherland Calls, Volgograd, Russia

Monument of the Bulgarian-Soviet Friendship, Turna Hill, Bulgaria

Colossal Courage, Belarus

Superhero-Style Astronaut Sculpture, Moscow, Russia

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Staggering Statues 7 Monumental Wonders Of The Former Soviet Union

Minimal Luxury: Monumental Concrete Hotel by Tadao Ando

Beach Read: Monumental Concrete Library on the Edge of a Bay

Type Face: Monumental Figurative Sculptures Made of Text

(images via: chris huggins, jaume plensa)

(images via: terry madeley)

(images via: terry madeley, jw sherman, anders sandberg)

(images via: tim green, lorraine 1 + 2, liza31337)

7 Monumental Abandoned Wonders of Military Architecture

RAF Stenigot, England

(images via: urban spaceman)

Russian Island Base in the Sea of Japan

(images via: english russia)

Beelitz Heilstätten Military Hospital, Berlin

(images via: arcanum, studiospecialplace, 28dayslater)

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Posts Tagged ‘Monumental’

Animated Land Art by Paul Johnson

Ash Dome by David Nash

Van Gogh’s ‘Olive Trees’ Planted in a Field

Seven Magic Mountains by Ugo Rondinone

Snow Murals by Simon Beck

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: The Earth As A Canvas 25 Monumental Works Of Land Based Art

Leshan Giant Buddha, China

Moai of Easter Island

Appennine Colossus, Italy

Tirthankara Jain Sculptures of India

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Still Standing Tall 7 Monumental Statues Of The Ancient World

The Motherland Calls, Volgograd, Russia

Monument of the Bulgarian-Soviet Friendship, Turna Hill, Bulgaria

Colossal Courage, Belarus

Superhero-Style Astronaut Sculpture, Moscow, Russia

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Staggering Statues 7 Monumental Wonders Of The Former Soviet Union

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(images via: chris huggins, jaume plensa)

(images via: terry madeley)

(images via: terry madeley, jw sherman, anders sandberg)

(images via: tim green, lorraine 1 + 2, liza31337)

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The Earth As A Canvas 25 Monumental Works Of Land Based Art

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Staggering Statues 7 Monumental Wonders Of The Former Soviet Union