RICHARD LONG. HEAVEN AND EARTH

RICHARD LONG (1945-)

Richard Long, born in Bristol 1945, is one of Britain's most important living artists and has exhibited widely across the globe. He first came to prominence in the late 1960s and is part of a generation of distinguished British artists who extended the possibilities of sculpture beyond traditional materials and methods. His work is rooted in his deep affinity with nature, developed during solitary walks.

These take him to many places around the world, from the 'home' landscape of Britain to the Andes, Africa, and the Mongolian steppes. He has produced many artist's books, documenting walks and works made in remote locations through photography, maps and texts. Long represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1976 and has participated in numerous seminal group exhibitions, including The New Art at the Hayward Gallery in 1972.He was awarded the Turner Prize in 1989.

Long's walks often realise particular ideas, such as using riverbeds as footpaths, walking a straight line for a predetermined distance, or dropping a stone into each river crossed along the route. On wilderness walks, Long will leave traces and marks of his passing in locations found by chance and circumstance. Often geometric in shape, these sculptures are always made with the materials of the places, for example a line of dusty footprints or a circle of stone.

He has said that these outdoor works 'feed the imagination', whereas works made for interior and gallery spaces, such as sculptures of natural materials or mud works on floors and walls, 'feed the senses'.This book, designed in collaboration with the artist, surveys Long's entire career, beginning with key early works including "A Line Made By Walking" (1967), "A Ten Mile Walk" (1968), "Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro" (1969), "A Sculpture Left By The Tide" (1970) and "A Circle In Africa" (1978). It features an extensive essay by Tate curator Clarrie Wallis as well as an overview of Long's artist's books and other publications by Andrew Wilson, curator of Modern and Contemporary British Art at Tate. Extensive illustrations include previously unpublished photographs of the artist's early works from his own collection.