Robert Smithson is an artist who impressed Americans and other populations with his extraordinary works. He resorted to the forces of nature to create something unique and breathtaking. The Earth and soil seemed to be his main sources of inspiration.
The artist contributed art greatly because he made representatives of the general public pay attention to the world around them. For example, Smithson’s impressive earthworks reveal the connection between human beings and nature. He showed how glue covered the ground, hurting everything that could be found under it, and then provided a contrasting idea with a woodshed built by people but almost destroyed by soil. It seems that there is an opposition between these two parties and no clear conclusion can be reached. He also prepared several works that showed our nature as something originally eternal but coming to an end soon. Broken circle and spiral jetty remind of never endless circulation, but they are interrupted. A lot of his sculptures reveal destruction and organization. For instance, the glass is broken, but it is gathered in several equal banks in the Gravel Mirror. It makes people think of their actions, as they can see the destruction brought by humans and their attempts to cope with it. Smithson emphasized that it was impossible to make broken things whole again, that is why people should think about the consequences of their behaviors and actions. Similar ideas can also be found in the artist’s drawings and films.
The works on the website made me realize that Smithson was a person who paid much attention to the environment and the way it influences and is influenced by the population of the Earth. They allowed me to see that he was highly concerned about the effects of urbanization and implemented these thoughts in his works. The interview with the artist provided an opportunity to understand how his vision of the world developed. I believe that Smithson wanted others to feel that suburban atmosphere he was familiar with but emphasizing the fact that it was changing. In addition to that, the interview reveals that the artist was influenced by other people and works. He had an opportunity to travel and to see how different populations treated the same things. The fact that he had never gone to college made me think that he was an intelligent person who created unique works not affected by the ideas the educators wanted their students to grasp. The essay also shaped my conception of Smithson’s work, as it discussed their meanings. I also agreed that Smithson’s minimalism made his works look as visionary evidence of what was happening around us.
I believe that the artist’s works should not be assessed because they were made to share ideas but not to be prized for the techniques used. Still, when evaluating Smithson’s art, one should pay attention to the forces that dominate, colors used, and shapes. As a result, one will be able to define what is the idea depicted by the artist and what emotions and attitudes he had towards it. In this way, one is likely to notice that the works are mainly black and white, which proves that they are based on contrasting ideas, including life and death, good and evil, nature and people.