Why did Robert Smithson choose Rozel Point at the Great Salt Lake location for his earthwork Spiral Jetty?
Smithson was reportedly attracted to the Rozel Point site because of the stark anti-pastoral beauty and industrial remnants from nearby Golden Spike National Historic Site, as well as an old pier and a few unused oil rigs.
What does the Spiral Jetty symbolize?
Like much Earth art, Spiral Jetty is a tribute to the daring and imagination of the artist who goes from concept to actual product—the fact that it is done at all is often what constitutes its significance.
What is unique about the Spiral Jetty?
Made of black basalt rocks and earth gathered from the site, Spiral Jetty is a 15-foot-wide coil that stretches more than 1,500 feet into the lake. Undoubtedly the most famous large-scale earthwork of the period, it has come to epitomize Land art.
What created the Spiral Jetty?
1970Spiral Jetty / Created
The monumental earthwork Spiral Jetty (1970) was created by artist Robert Smithson and is located off Rozel Point in the north arm of Great Salt Lake. Made of black basalt rocks and earth gathered from the site, Spiral Jetty is a 15-foot-wide coil that stretches more than 1,500 feet into the lake.
Why is the Spiral Jetty red?
One of many preliminary drawings for Smithson’s most famous work, Spiral Jetty, this particular sketch calls attention to the striking red hue of Great Salt Lake. The color is a result of salt-tolerant algae and bacteria, a feature that reminded Smithson of the primordial sea.
What is the Spiral Jetty?
The monumental earthwork Spiral Jetty (1970) was created by artist Robert Smithson and is located off Rozel Point in the north arm of Great Salt Lake.
What inspired Robert Smithson to build Spiral Jetty?
One human, Robert Smithson, intervened by creating artwork on the lakebed to inspire others. His Spiral Jetty, likewise, comments on change over time. Smithson used scientific and mathematical language when he planned and executed Spiral Jetty, built into the pink water of Great Salt Lake1.
What is the jetty by John Smithson?
Smithson was a cerebral artist whose ideas of entropy, monumentality, and the history of art inform his work. The Jetty ‘s form suggests similarities with archaic earthworks, such as Native American serpentine mounds (Ohio) or the Nazca lines (Peru). 6 However, it differs from such putative predecessors by being built into the water.
What is a jetty and how does it work?
The Jetty is a site-specific work, meant to interact with changing conditions of the surrounding water, land, and atmosphere.