Work Record
Class [controlled]:
• environmental art • Modern art
*Work
Type [link]:
• earthworks (sculpture)
*Title:
Spiral Jetty
*Creator
Display: Robert Smithson (American,
1938-1973)
*Role
[link]: conceptual artist [link]:
Smithson, Robert
*Creation
Date: April 1970 [controlled]:
• Earliest:
1970 • Latest: 1970
*Subject
[links]: • nonrepresentational art •
spiral • entropy • earth •
destruction • water
*Current
Location [link]: not
extant
Creation Location
[link]: Great Salt Lake (Utah, United States)
*Measurements:
coil: 457.2 m (length) (1500 feet), 4.57 m (width)
(15 feet)
[controlled]: • Value:
457.2 Unit:
m Type: length
| • Value:
4.57 Unit:
m Type: width
*Materials
and Techniques: mud, precipitated salt
crystals, black basalt and limestone, rocks, water
Material [links]:
• mud • basalt • limestone
• water • salt
Description: The
Spiral Jetty was a counterclockwise coil of mud,
salt crystals, and rocks, which were hauled in by
truck, but were indigenous elements of the landscape
at Great Salt Lake. While clockwise spirals were
powerful positive forces, the artist equated this
counterclockwise spiral with destruction and entropy,
drawing upon symbolism from many cultures.
Required and recommended elements are marked with an asterisk. |
