Robert Smithson: Spiral Jetty

Robert Smithson: Spiral Jetty by George Baker. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780520245549.

In 1970 Robert Smithson (1938-1973), one of the most innovative and provocative artists of the twentieth century, created the landmark earthwork Spiral Jetty at Rozel Point on Utahs Great Salt Lake. This dramatic and highly influential work forms a coil 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide and stretches out counterclockwise into the lakes translucent red water. Composed of black basalt rocks and earth, the sculpture comprises the materials of its location: mud, salt crystals, rocks, water. The contributors to this comprehensive publication consider the sculpture in relation to its eponymous companions―a text work and a film. These essays situate this renowned series of works alongside Smithsons critical writings, proposals, drawings, sources, and models. Amply illustrated with archival and new photographs of the Jetty and many comparative illustrations, this book makes evident why Smithsons art and writings have had such a powerful impact on art and art theory for over thirty years.