Arcy Douglass

Since my trip to Nevada,  I have been thinking a lot about the way that natural structures grow or the way that erosion creates a set of fractal patterns on the earth.  The new work is based incorporating ideas of fractal growth in some of the language of the tiles.

It is important to me that the language of the works is being generated by the geometry of the tiles and the principles of growth.  The space of the floor is naturally incorporated into the space of the work.

Since I began thinking more about Land Art projects,  I have been very interested in the idea of boundaries.  In some boundary situations a series of related objects can be used to define the space of an object that has different kind of geometry.  Often that geometry can be incorporated into the space of the room itself.  The objects create a boundary that is not exclusive and does not comprise the individual integrity of each of its units.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to escape to Nevada to do some research on some land art projects.  One of the projects that I visited was Michael Heizer’s Double Negative from 1969-1970.   I am always amazed everytime I make the drive to go and see the site.  The site is always larger an the erosion is more substantial.  It is hard to believe that someone that was 24 years old conceived of a work as a complex as this.

I had two thoughts on visting the piece.  First, that nature has continued Heizer’s original excavation of the slots.  Now the slots are being re-excavated by the wind and rain of the desert.  It makes the entire project a window in the natural processes of nature.

Second, even though the work is excavation, a negative in the solid mass of the mesa, surprisingly the work is still experienced like an obect. The experience of the work is the experience of the excavation.  Of course, this works right in with the Heizer’s title “Double Negative”  meaning two negative make a positive.  The space of the excavations is able to merge with the space of the valley to create an experience that is unlike any other in art.

It has a been a long couple of weeks since I have updated the site, so I will start at the beginning.  In early October, I was at the Art + Environment Conference at the Nevada Art Museum.  The conference was excellent and I met a lot of great people.  During the conference, I had a chance to interview Vito Acconci.  The link to the inter view is here:

http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2008/10/vito_acconci_at.html