Event

Earth Putt / Putt WorksPost an Event »

Will Brown

July 1 - August 13, 2012

Info

http://wearewillbrown.com/
(415) 643-3943

3041 24th Street San Francisco, CA 94110

Google Map »

In the mid-1960's, artists like Michael Heizer, Nancy Holt, and Robert Smithson retreated from the urban landscape and the climate of the commercial art world to various remote locations. Deeply off the grid, they began making monumental "Earthworks" or "Land Art" from natural materials and the earth itself. Feeling that art had become constricted by socio-institutional structures like museums and galleries, Smithson wrote that he was after "limits and boundaries which evade the rational order." However noble its intentions, the Earthworks movement was nonetheless rife with problems and paradoxes. In many cases, these monumental sculptures were funded by the very systems the artists had hoped to leave behind. And as many hopeful pilgrims can attest, the remote locations of most Earthworks made them infinitely less accessible than city museums. Earthworks have certainly been the subject of numerous institutional exhibitions, but without the rocks and dirt, the shows have been limited to documentation and commodified ephemera—returning the works to what they initially rejected most. In an effort to showcase a selection of the most important Earthworks of the 20th century in one place, Will Brown has created Earth Putt / Putt Works, an Earthworks-themed nine-hole mini-golf course within the gallery walls. EP/PW combines the egalitarian roots of one American pastime with the outsized ambitions of another, playfully immortalizing and trivializing them both. Likely against the wishes of our artist heroes, however, individual holes will be sold at auction to the highest bidders at the conclusion of the exhibition. Play is $2-5/game on a sliding scale. Includes putter, ball, scorecard, and directions to all Earthworks represented. Open hours are Sundays 12-4PM with the likely addition of Saturday and evening hours. Please check the website for updates. Open Wednesday, July 4, from 12-4PM. Our dynamic snack bar will host a hot dog roller, serious candy assortments, and more. Special thanks to Aaron Rodriquez and Justin Limoges, who moved mountains in the name of putt. Works Cadillac Ranch, by Ant Farm Levitated Mass, by Michael Heizer Lightning Field, by Water de Maria Roden Crater, by James Turrell * Spiral Jetty, by Robert Smithson Stone Circle, by Richard Long Sun Tunnels, by Nancy Holt To Be Viewed From Mars, by Isamu Naguchi ** Wrapped Coast, by Christo and Jean-Claude * Under construction in the Arizona desert for more than 30 years. Still unrealized. ** Proposal for unrealized sculpture.