Santa Monica:
Australian artist Andrew Rogers announces the first exhibition devoted to the
entire Rhythms of Life project, the world’s largest contemporary
land art undertaking. From May 7-28, the non-profit arts organization
18th Street Arts Center (www.18thstreet.org) will present Andrew
Rogers: Time and Space, a selection of 68 large-scale photographs of
Rogers’s ground-breaking outdoor art
project.
The exhibition will showcase
aerial and satellite photographs of 47 sculptures created over a period of 13
years, marking the first time these images will be publicly displayed together.
Also on view will be a looped, 40-minute film that documents the artist’s
extraordinary process. Rogers has spent the last13 years engaging over
6,700 people in 13 countries on seven continents to create stone sculptures in
deserts, fjords, gorges, national parks and on mountainous slopes. Often
working for months on end, engaging hundreds of local workers and even a
thousand Maasai Warriors to help him erect his visionary installations, Rogers
engages the communities where his works are created, devising to build
structures with local significance, and providing sustaining support to maintain
the mammoth artworks. Following each project’s completion,
Rogers photographs the work himself either from a hot air balloon, a helicopter
500 feet aloft or from a satellite stationed 480 miles above
ground.
About
Rhythms of
Life
Rhythms of Life forms a chain of 47 stone
sculptures, or geoglyphs, positioned at 13 sites around the world.
Constructed of earth and rocks, and following the contours of the natural
landscape, Rogers’s land sculptures each measure up to 430,000 square feet
in area, and range in height from three to 14 feet. Designed in conjunction with
select architects and a team of local workers, the structures refer to the
physical building blocks of history and civilization, while addressing the cycle
of life and the interconnection of humanity throughout time and space.
Rogers began the project in Israel’s Arava Desert in 1998 and has since
created artworks on five continents: in Israel, Chile, Bolivia, Sri Lanka,
Australia, Iceland, China, India, Turkey, Nepal, Slovakia, the United States,
Kenya and Antarctica. At each site, the project is initiated with a
celebration that draws on local customs, such as traditional dancing and singing
in China, sharing of wine and coca in Chile or the sacrifice of a llama in
Bolivia. To create the land sculptures, Rogers and his crews battle the
elements, including freezing snow in Iceland, 110-degree heat in an Israeli
desert and altitude of 14,000 feet in the Bolivian
Andes.
The project in Turkey is the world’s largest
contemporary land art park. Twelve massive stone structures, most built by
hand. The lines of these structures measure approximately 4 miles in length and
comprising over 10,500 tons of stone. The park spans a mountain valley
over a distance of 1. 5miles.
About the
Artist
Andrew Rogers is one of
Australia’s most renowned sculptors. His works are included in private and
public collections throughout in Australia, South East Asia, the Middle East,
Europe, and the U.S. Rhythms of Life is his most ambitious project to
date. For more information, see www.andrewrogers.com
Listing
Information:
Exhibition Dates: May 07
– 24
Reception with the artist:
Saturday May
7
18th Street Arts
Center Info: 1639 18th St. Santa Monica T: (310) 453-3711
www.18thstreet.org
Gallery Hours: Monday –
Friday , 11am –
5.30pm
Image Caption:
Shield, 2010, Chyulu Hills, Kenya, 328’ x 230’. Courtesy
Andrew
Rogers.
