Culture

Walter De Maria

Any good work of art should have at least ten meanings.
—Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria was one of the leading protagonists of the 1960s and 1970s American art scene and a key figure of the Earthworks movement. He worked in genres such as Land art, Conceptual Art and Minimal art. He studied music and performed as a percussionist in jazz and as a drummer for the rock group The Primitives, which later evolved into The Velvet Underground. Perhaps best known for large-scale outdoor works that often involved simple ideas rendered in grand ways: his Earth Room in New York City, and The Lightning Field in New Mexico are two well known examples.

Walter De Maria, The New York Earth Room, 1977. Via Dia Art Foundation ©Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria, The New York Earth Room, 1977 Installation View. Via Surround ©Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria, The New York Earth Room, 1977. Via Gagosian ©Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria, The Lighting Field, 1977, Photo by John Cliett Via Gagosian ©Walter De Maria

foundation field sculpture american lightning new museum earth room foundation

Walter De Maria, Lightning Field, 1977, Photo by John Cliett ©Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria, Beds of Spikes, 1968–1969, Via Kunstmuseum Basel ©Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria, Original spike from the first Bed of Spikes, 1968 ©Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria, The 2000 Sculpture, 1992. Via LACMA ©Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria, The 2000 Sculpture, 1992, Details ©Walter De Maria

Walter de Maria, The Broken Kilometer, 1979 Via Dia Art Foundation ©Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria, One Mile Long Drawing, 1968, De Maria drew two parallel lines of chalk across the floor of the Mojave desert. Eeach stretched a mile. @ Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria, Art by Telephone, 1967. @ Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria, Time/Timeless/No Time by Schneckenhausmann

Walter De Maria, Time/Timeless/No Time, 2004, in situ at the Chichu Art Museum. Photo by Schneckenhausmann @ Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria, Exhibition view. Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery

Walter De Maria, Truth/Beauty Series, 1993-2016, Via Gagosian

Walter De Maria, Truth/Beauty Series, 1993-2016, Detail Via Gagosian

Architecture of Density – Michael Wolf

German photographer Michael Wolf captured in his series”Architecture of Density“, images that acutely acknowledge the landscape’s overwhelming concentration of soaring buildings and skyscrapers in Hong Kong. Having lived there for several years, Wolf began to document Hong Kong’s extreme development and complex urban dynamics, and how these factors play into the relationships between public and private space, anonymity and individuality, in one of the most densely populated cities on the planet.

all images copyright michael wolf

Musée Yves Saint Laurent

A new museum dedicated to the work and life of the legendary French couturier Yves Saint Laurent has opened in Marrakech. Designed by Studio KO, the 4,000-square-metre building sits a short distance away from Jardin Majorelle, the home acquired by Sanit Laurent and Pierre Bergé in 1980.

Image © studio KO

Timothy Leary’s Hitchcock Estate

The Hitchcock Estate in Millbrook, New York is a historic mansion and surrounding grounds. The 64-room Bavarian baroque mansion was built in the early 20th century by German-born gas magnate Charles F. Dieterich and eventually sold to the Hitchcock family in 1963. The siblings Billy Hitchcock and Peggy Hitchcock who have both tried LSD would open the doors of their estate to Timothy Leary and the Psychedelic Movement.

In September of 1963, Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert and Ralph Metzner (their colleague at Harvard) moved into the Hitchcock Estate, along with thirty or so of their followers. There Leary established what he called the League for Spiritual Discovery.

1967. © Getty Images

During Leary’s residence at the mansion (1963–1968) the culture and ambiance there evolved from scholarly research into psychedelics to a more party-oriented atmosphere, exacerbated by an increasing stream of visitors and guests included R. D. Laing, Allen Ginsberg and Charles Mingus. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters visited in their bus Further.

The mansion was the target of drug raids. In April 1966, a squad of police investigators headed by G. Gordon Lilly, later to achieve notoriety and a criminal conviction in the Watergate affair, arrested Leary and three other people at mansion for possession of marijuana. Leary and his group were evicted in 1968; Leary moved to California.

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen – Byker

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen is a Finnish photographer who has worked in Britain since the 1960s. From 1969, Konttinen lived in Byker, a working class community in the east side of Newcastle upon Tyne. For over seven years, Konttinen photographed the residents of this area of terraced houses until her own house was demolished.

03 WH Douglas, Gents' Hairdresser, 1974, Byker, Si

Kendal Street, 1969, Byker, Sirkka-Liisa Kontti

05 Launch of World Unicorn, 1973, River Project, S

02 Heather playing piano,1971, Byker, Sirkka-Liisa

Tynemouth, 1978, Writing in the Sand, Sirkka-Li

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘Jimmy Dodds (Byker)’ 1980, printed 2012

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘Jean Barron with Parents (Byker)’ 1980, printed 2012

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘Byker Park Dominoes Club (Byker)’ 1974, printed 2012

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘Dogs Hairdressing, Shields Road (Byker)’ 1981, printed 2014

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘Ragman’s Horse and Cart by Union Road (Byker)’ 1970, printed 2012

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Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘Girl on a Spacehopper (Byker)’ 1971, printed 2012

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘Jimmy Dodds, Albion Row Allotments (Byker)’ 1980, printed 2014

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘Making-up in Mason Street (Byker)’ 1971, printed 2012

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘Man Gesturing in Demolished Street (Byker)’ 1971, printed 2012

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘Living Room Wall of Sidney Aubrey (Byker)’ 1975, printed 2014

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘Old Kitt, St Peter’s Allotments (Byker)’ 1973, printed 2014

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, ‘John Hindmarsh & Son, Funeral Directors’, Raby Street (Byker)’ 1974, printed 2014

William Eggleston

William Eggleston is an American photographer and one of the most influential photographers of the latter half of the 20th century, widely credited with pioneering fine art color photography in his iconic depictions of the American South. Eggleston’s initial style was influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, and Walker Evans.