The reddish coloration of the water, caused by the high presence of microbes, initially attracted Smithson to the north arm of the lake. The site of Spiral Jetty was chosen by the artist for the lake’s unusual ecological and geological properties. “I like landscapes that suggest prehistory,” 1 Smithson once observed. Droughts caused the lake to recede in 2002, and the sculpture has remained visible ever since. Created at a time when water levels were particularly low, Spiral Jetty was submerged in 1972. In 1970, assisted by a crew operating dump trucks, a tractor, and a front loader, Smithson displaced some 6,000 tons of black basalt rock and earth from the adjacent shore to form a coil 1,500 feet long and approximately 15 feet wide, winding counterclockwise into the lake. The changing elements of wind, water color, light and white, crystallized salt deposits on the black basalt rocks reminds us of the changes communicated by the revolving spiral.Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, located at Rozel Point on the northeastern shore of Great Salt Lake in Utah, is one of the most remarkable examples of Land art. Smithson chose the natural world as his “canvas” for depicting the spiral found so often in nature. Robert Smithson’s 1970’s monumental work “Spiral Jetty” is walkable and on the edge of Utah’s Great Salt Lake. The swirling, spiraling night sky is thought to be reflective of the early photographs of galaxies or comets published in the popular media at the time. Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” portrays an idealized view from his window in the asylum at Saint-Remy-de-Provence. Rembrandt’s “Philosopher with an Open Book” depicts two figures in an interior space dominated by a wooden, spiral staircase. Throughout art history, spirals have been used symbolically in paintings and sculptures. This can likely be explained by each of these peoples independently observing spirals in nature and incorporating the spiral motif into their art. And yet, the spiral appears in Neolithic societies in Europe and the Middle East, in China and Peru and throughout the Pacific in Polynesian and Maori societies. This was at a time that predates writing or any other means of communication between geographically dispersed cultures. In addition to when spirals first appeared in ancient art, it is interesting to note that the use of spirals are universally found in every ancient culture throughout the world. Archeologists have suggested that the spirals carved into the entrance stones are representative of the cyclical nature of life, from birth to death to rebirth. Newgrange is thought to have been a place of astrological and religious importance. This predates the construction of Stonehenge in England and the pyramids in Egypt. Newgrange is a large earth and stone mound that was constructed about 5000 years ago. A famous example of the use of spirals in ancient art is at Newgrange in Ireland. Spirals are among the oldest shapes found in ancient artwork that dates back to the Stone Age. The spiral motif plays an important part in our Patera Kori Studios contemporary sculptures as it did in the first artistic efforts of ancient man.
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