Andy Goldsworthy
In White Walls, Andy Goldsworthy will cover the entirety of the walls in the main space of Galerie Lelong with a
smooth, white porcelain that will dry and crack over the course of the exhibition. Regeneration, presence and
absence, and the passage of time—hallmarks of Goldsworthy’s work—are pervasive forces in what is his sixth
exhibition at Galerie Lelong. The final touches will be made to the walls in the early hours of Tuesday, May 8,
before the gallery opens to the public. A reception will be held on Saturday, May 12, from 6 to 8 pm, and the
artist will be present.
Over the course of several days, moist porcelain from Cornwall, U.K., where the artist was born, will be laid over
the gallery walls—covering an expanse 13 feet in height and over 140 feet in length. Once completed and
uncovered on May 8, the room will appear empty. Then, slowly, the clay will begin to dry and crack throughout
the surface. The manner in which the clay will crack and, subsequently, fall from the wall is uncertain;
unpredictability and probability have remained principal elements in Goldsworthy’s work. The work will, in the
artist’s words, move from minimal to expressionistic. What begins as a quiet refuge in the city becomes an
alive, active site.
Also on view will be a new film, a medium rarely explored by Goldsworthy. In the film the artist creates an
ephemeral silhouette figure in snow, a type of work that he refers to as “shadows” and can be seen before in his
photographic works. The gradual transformation and disappearance of the artist’s marking echoes the themes
evident in the clay work—the natural effects of time on matter, and the beauty in loss and renewal of all forms.
In a career spanning three decades, Andy Goldsworthy has become one of the most prominent and iconic
artists of our time. Permanent, site-specific installations can be seen at the National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C.; de Young Museum, San Francisco; Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York; Storm King Art Center,
Mountainville, NY; Aspen Institute, Aspen, CO; Stanford University, Stanford, CA; and Scripps Research
Institute, La Jolla, CA. In 2007, Goldsworthy is the subject of two major museum exhibitions: Yorkshire
Sculpture Park, West Bretton, U.K., on view through next January; and the Palacio de Cristal at the Museo
Nacional Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain, which opens in October. Also in October, Abrams Books will publish
Enclosure, its ninth monograph of Goldsworthy’s work.