Page 27 - Studio International - April 1974

as signs of stay (circle, cross, square) or signs of which the concept of nature is qualified, and is From A Rolling Stone 1973
movement (line, spiral, zigzag). And if a carrying a set of connotations like, for instance, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
photograph is illusionistic, working as a purity and stillness and isolation. Those
recollection of a place once known or a connotations are all part of Richard Long's
track once walked, so is a piece presented work; it is what the works transmit because
indoors, in a gallery or a museum, an they have been felt and perceived in that
illusionistic recollection too: of the same. Its connotational frame, and fused into a perfectly
shape denotes the activity (staying or moving), matching, legible form of presentation.
its material (rocks, sticks, pine-needles, sand) R. H. FUCHS
denotes its place, though naturally not as
precisely as a photograph.3 A Rolling Stone (1973) was recently acquired by the
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
This suggests that in Long's oeuvre there is 2 For those unfamilar with English idiomatic usage:
no functional difference between a photograph a rolling stone is figurative for restless wanderer.
and an 'actual' piece. Both are instruments of Also part of the meaning of the work's title is a
popular saying: a rolling stone gathers no moss. The
recollection; through them one is able to share playfulness of the title in relation to the material used
Richard Long's memories.4 That is what his for the markings (stones) is of course obvious.
art is about, and to me that seems a rather 3 In some cases the relation between a presentation in
a gallery and a walk executed somewhere, is very
classic mode of apprehension. precise. Long's exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum,
Looking at art always entails sharing Amsterdam, December 1973—January 1974,
something (seldom something very specific) contained a spiral of clay footprints which was the
same length as a straight line walked to the top of a
with the artist: his feeling, his intelligence, his hill near Glastonbury, Somerset. So that spiral is
understanding of the world. What one is almost a reproduction of that walk, differently
invited to share with Richard Long seems quite presented because of the different conditions.
Because the work is about memories, it is of no real
evident: a contemplation of nature. Now this importance whether a mark somewhere (a 'sculpture')
happens within a certain cultural context in remains in existence or not.
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