Celebrating the "Under-Recognized"
The green lawns surrounding the Menil Collection in Houston will never be the same. After months of excavating, they are now home to three huge and rare Michael Heizer "earth sculptures." It is the first time a major work of Heizer's -- described by Menil director Josef Helfenstein as "the most under-recognized major artist in America" -- has been unveiled in America since the opening of Dia Beacon five years ago.
The new installation was no easy feat, combining the egos of two major art world luminaries: the museum's architect, Renzo Piano, and Heizer, a loner who rarely leaves his home in the Nevada wilderness. (He communicated with the museum by phone.)
Each sculpture is 50 to 60 feet long. Along with Double Negative -- a work that came two years later -- they are the culmination of Heizer's efforts to make sculpture that "removed" substance rather than adding to it. The other six in this now wildly famous Nevada Depression Series were made of wood. They have since disintegrated back into the Nevada desert. Heizer's great work -- nearing completion in eastern rural Nevada -- remains City, one of the largest contemporary earthworks projects ever constructed. (It's about the size of the D.C.'s National Mall.) But the artist, who Helfenstein describes politely as "not a friend of too many human beings," does not welcome visitors. So the new installations give his works something quite rare: accessibility. Maybe Heizer will now finally become "recognized." Even deservedly popular. --DAVID HAY
(Photos: George Hixson)
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I love David Hay's discussion of the "artist" who cuts trenches in the ground. Many of us miss so much about the core of some gifted artist's work. But this stuff looks like the mistake that a buddy of mine made with a roto tiller. One of the Canadian futurists defined art as ", , , anything that one might get away with." This guy got us.He really got us! But he has contributed substantially to the stuff that one might write about. Artie Johnson on "Laugh In" might tell us that this art was interesting but stupid. Let's get him a grant! The cultured public needs more playing in the grass and in the sand to distract them from all the evil things going on around us.
Thanks for the art.
Ray Lemley
... "the most under-recognized major artist in America" ...
Ha! I bet nobody believes that more than Michael Heizer himself.
Seriously though, his work does deserve more recognition; he's been in Robert Smithson's shadow too long. If he could just bury all that righteous indignation in one of his holes in the desert, he might enjoy the same level of popularity as someone like Richard Serra. This might happen anyway once he finishes City.