![]() ![]() He was a wealthy man and money was no object to him, the ring that came back was a simple gold ring with the words “this too shall pass” engraved on it. The teaching can be summed up in the phrase “this too shall pass” which is a jewish folktale where a king commissioned a ring to be made that would make him happy when he was sad and sad when he was happy. The idea in Buddhism is to become conscious of this fact and live life well and in accordance with what are the known laws of nature. In Tibetan Buddhism they have a teaching on impermanence and how everything on earth in this life is temporary. This concept is also found elsewhere in the world with the Tibetan Buddhist monks and their beautiful temporary sand mandalas Its also about treading lightly on the earth as an environmental measure and leaving only a gentle footprint on a delicate planet. His ephemeral artwork leaves no legacy except for photographs and memories but this is living the honesty of life on earth and how eventually even the most indelible mark fades to nothing in the end. Time is something that connects us all and the environment in which we live which is temporary and not eternal. His artwork also emphasises the connectedness of all things and the connectedness of the art and us to nature and the landscape. ![]() To Goldsworthy this is important to understand the reality of birth, life and death. Time plays a significant role in his work he creates a piece takes a photograph of it in its prime and then leaves it to the elements to decay destroy and “kill” the artwork leaving nothing permanent behind. The philosophy behind his work is all about the dance of life which is fleeting and temporary in nature. He likes to create something from the energy of the landscape, something with rhythm, like a dance “a lot of my work is like picking potatoes you have to get into the rhythm of it” (Goldsworthy 2009). ![]() His work is made from leaves sticks stones ice and all sorts of natural material and is often completely transient in nature. He produces site specific sculpture and land art in a natural and urban setting. There are actually many forms of art by artists who do this everything from simple sand sculptures and beach art to environmental land art to light painting and the ancient intricate colourful sand mandalas of the Tibetan monks.įirstly looking at Andy Goldsworthy, he is a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist. What story does the art tell from the artist who deliberately chooses to leave no trace except for photographs and memories. There is a unique philosophy to the artists who choose to create such fleeting ephemeral works of art and in this essay we will look at the works of three artists in particular who choose to express their art in this short lived way and that is Andy Goldsworthy, Tibetan monks and Ryan Moule. It existed for a time, it was here and then it was gone. Perhaps they exist only in the memories of those who saw it for its brief existence and perhaps it’s there as a history of the landscape in which it was formed. There is a lot of art”out there” and most leave the tracks and traces of the artist who made them but what happens when the artist deliberately sets out to leave no trace of their art? When it is an ephemeral piece swept up and destroyed by its creator or by the ravages of time itself – the only trace that may remain perhaps in the form of photographs capturing a temporal fleeting moment of beauty and wonder. ![]()
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