Balance: Art and Nature

By John K. Grande

Book Overview

Poses questions about our relationship to the natural world, our place in the stream of natural evolution and technological process, and the role of visual artists in understanding, and defining, society and nature. "Makes unexpected connections giving new insights into contemporary art."-- Public Art Review "Grande's book contains a lot of ideas, all of which are thought-provoking."-- Globe and Mail

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1551640066
• ISBN13: 9781551640068
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Black Rose Books
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Find Your Place in the Landscape with John Grande's Classic

BALANCE: ART AND NATURE is a granddaddy of the Eco-art movement. Its text, full of richly ordered art-speak, articulates the need to tilt away from a market-driven art establishment, and seek the relocation of human culture within the context of nature. Eco-artists such as Anish Kapoor, Armand Vaillancourt, James Carl, Kevin Kelly and Antony Gormley rate stand-alone chapters. Grande, a Canadian by heritage, was born in Sri Lanka and developed his world view via postings in his diplomatic father's career to South Africa, Norway and Great Britain. The book marks the philosophical odyssey of an early ecological activist from the 1970's to the present and draws on a series of reviews and features that initially appeared in such publications as "Artforum International," "Canadian Forum," "Espace Sculpture," "International Sculpture" and "Vie des Arts." This Eco-art text contains 30 black and white illustrations, copious footnotes and a sturdy index.An artist's legacy is of peerless value for the commercially encumbered artists. Andy Warhol, for example, has his very own museum in Pittsburgh. But for the environmental artist, near invisibility holds its own fascination. Grande recounts numerous examples to support his thesis. In a story about Andy Goldsworthy, animals run over, jump into, or actually nibble projects, thus forcing the artist to suspend his work. In another example, Austrian- and now New Zealand-based artist Hendrik Hundertwasser's organic petrol station in Vienna is cited. This colorfully painted station is located under roofs of grass and trees under which cars pull in and fill up. But perhaps First Nations artist Carl Beam's canvas says it best. Through "Burying the Ruler," Beam hopes to heal the wounds created by contemporary man's tendency to measure and quantify everybody and everything in today's society. "Universal concerns with the environment, a resurgence of interest in mythology, and the need to replace outdated patriarchal models of society, are all coming into play as artists seek to nurture new forms of their art. Even art's own history is being rejected outright by feminist artists whose vision is not to fill their father's shoes, but to invent an entirely new kind of footwear." p. 23, BALANCE: ART AND NATURE"The more self-sustaining and permanent a community is, the greater stake people will invest in those communities. Artists can improve our communities by creating interior and exterior fresco projects (a form of art that has not been fully exploited in northern climates)...as well as the preserved wilderness environments we will go to from satellite cities of the future." p. 99, BALANCE: ART AND NATURE