Stone Circles and Mud Paintings in Richard Long Exhibition

Stone circles, mud paintings and documented walks will form the backbone of a new Richard Long exhibition, Heaven and Earth- his first major exhibition in London since the Hayward Gallery show eighteen years ago.

The exhibition will include important works from four decades of land and environmental art, and will provide an opportunity to understand afresh Long’s radical rethinking of the relationship between art and landscape. With around 80 works, Heaven and Earth will include sculptures, new large-scale wall works, and photographic and text works documenting walks around the world, from Dartmoor to Japan.

Richard Long first came to prominence in the late 1960s and is part of a generation of British artists who extended the possibilities of sculpture by using walking as a medium. His work documented walks through the British landscape, as well as on the plains of Canada, Mongolia and Bolivia, and in doing so can be seen as universal, perhaps an early comment on globalisation. Long never makes simple sculptures in the landscape, from stones or using marks, but never makes significant alterations to the landscapes as he passes through. 

Heaven and Earth will highlight key themes in Long's work, including sculptures of stones, watery mud works, and photographic and text works which record walks.

It will include artists’ books and postcards, all of which are ascribed equal value. The exhibition will include key early works such as A Line Made by Walking, England 1967, made in a field where the artist walked back and forth until the flattened grass caught by the sunlight became visible as a line. While it can be seen as a path going nowhere, it is also a reflection of how ancient man marked the landscape - the start of a new 'green lane'.

Although he is mostly working in the landscape, Tate visitors will be familiar with the way Richard Long sometimes brings materials into the gallery from past work shown at Tate Modern and Tate St Ives.

For Heaven and Earth, four of Long’s dramatic mud works, which represent the forces of speed, water, chance and gravity will be made directly on to the walls for the show.  The large central gallery of the exhibition will be devoted to six major stone sculptures. Norfolk Flint Circle 1990 is an eight metre sculpture consisting of a single layer of flints lying close together on the floor. In the gallery, as on his walks, Long lays the stones in simple geometric configurations such as circles, lines, and ellipses. The exhibition will also include early examples of remote stone sculptures such as the first stone circle made while walking in the Andes in 1972. Although linked to many movements, including Land Art and Art Povera, the exhibition will prove to Long's fans that he is, at heart, part of the English Romantic tradition.

Richard Long was born in Bristol in 1945 where he continues to live and work. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 1989; proving a controversial choice, he never received the 'winner's Exhibition' which was part of his prize. 

Heaven and Earth is curated by Clarrie Wallis, Curator of Contemporary Art, Tate Britain, assisted by Helen Little, Assistant Curator, Tate Britain. A fully illustrated publication will accompany the exhibition and will include previously unseen works.

The exhibition runs from 3 June - 6 September 2009 at Tate Britain, and is open daily 10am-5.50pm.

More:

• www.tate.org.uk/tickets
• 020 7887 8888

Image: Richard Long 'A Line in the Himalayas 1975' Copyright the artist