A Line Made by Walking
RICHARD LONG
RICHARD LONG, 1967
Richard Long, on his commute from his home to his art school, stopped off in a grassy field and walked back and forth in a straight path until a line was visible. He photographed the result. It may be the first example of a sculpture made by feet, not hands. Yet sculpture may not be the right way to describe it. Is the action of making the line the artwork? Or the line itself? Or the documentation of it? Shockingly simple, Long’s Line is a conceptual, minimalist work posing questions with no requirement for answers. It is a landmark of land art, and you can make it in your own back garden.