Popped into the 'Heaven and Earth' Richard Long exhibition at Tate Britain at the weekend. Had children as company, so it was bit of a whirlwind, but really enjoyed what I saw. When I was at art college, he was often referenced as being an exciting 'natural' artist, and his 'A Line Made By Walking' from 1967 was a fresh approach to sculpture, and performance art. He is probably most famous now for the sculptures he makes on long walks, geometric shapes formed from natural objects unique to the specific environment he is in. I was more interested in the typographic works, in which he simply states the objective and subsequent visual references of long walks, represented in Gill Sans, and mostly just in black and red. Very English, and reminds me of John Betjeman poems, the iconic London Underground map by Edward Johnston and the church posters of designer Phil Baines from the early 1990s. This is no photographic record, no proof of the event, merely a factual record of his experience - through walking according to the tides, or comparing a walk in Devon with one in China, and noting the similarities.
Not at the edge of contemporary art, there is no outrage, just an ethereal presence that stays with you long after you have left the building. Recommended. At Tate Britain until 6 September 2009
