Land Artists focus our attention on our place in the environment around us by taking their art out into the natural world. The movement was born out of Conceptualism and largely rejected the idea that art needed to be presented within the walls of galleries and museums. Works were created into and onto the earth, they were exposed to the elements and changed with the habitat around them. When curating this collection we focused on pieces we felt inhabited the same spirit as the Land Artists, pieces that are charged with the feeling of the natural world.

Meighan Morrison paints with large black strokes over a rich brown background in Untitled 101519 A, a contrast reminiscent of the shadows created on top of Mormon Mesa by Michael Heizer in his piece Double Negative. Both Untitled 101519 A and Double Negative create striking compositions with a minimal color palette.

Boxed Moon by Kim Frances employs a similar use of a subtle palette. Frances creates her paint medium using clay and other earth materials, and her geometric forms draw a sharp parallel between the natural and built environment.

The intersection between manmade and natural is also at play in Donald Judd’s 15 untitled works in concrete, as well as Christo’s Running Fence. Both works create a visual metaphor for the way that we interact with the world around us. Unlike Judd’s sculptures, Christo’s piece shows the often unseen effect of wind. The 18 foot tall, 24 ½ mile fence made of nylon flows in much the same way as the gestural strokes of Balance of Nature I and Balance of Nature II by Tania Dibbs.