Artists & Land

Land has been a subject for artists for centuries.  Landscape painting, the depiction or representation of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, has been widely practised. 

One of the earliest functions of the pure landscape picture seems to have been to provide evidence of ownership, like an entry in a land register.  Much later, Gainsborough’s painting of "Mr&Mrs Andrews" shows two landowners in the land which they own. 

In the later 20th century artists started to produce works by working directly in, and with land.  Movements included Land Art, Site-specific art, and Environmental art. 

More recently, artists engaged with some of the political and economic issues about land  eg Amy Balkin’s "This is the Public Domain" project in California;  Maria Eichhorn’s "Acquisition of a plot of land in Munster";  N55’s international LAND project;  and "The Land" by Kamin Lertchaiprasert and Rirkrit Tiravanija in Thailand.

Artist Patrick Keiller made a series of feature-length ‘essay’ films about landscape, place, politics, and economic history in England, including "London" (1994), "Robinson in Space" (1997), and "Robinson in Ruins" (2010).  In the project "The Future of Landscape and the Moving Image", he worked collaboratively with two academics, a geographer and a cultural historian.