![]() So I wanted to do something that is respectful to that period but I also wanted to use lively storytelling and use technology to my best advantage as a director, to make it a story worthy of an audience for today and to be able to appeal to a 21st century audience,” said Crump. “I was really interested in how some of these artists used media at the time and I really tried to own the look of some of the lo-fi media - early video, 8mm, 16mm film… I wanted to make new footage using technology that we have today to blend really with some of these very important, iconic pieces of work that were done by the artists themselves in the late 60's early 70’s. ![]() From the bird’s eye view, you will see monumental works of art like Heizer’s “ Double Negative.” “Troublemakers” combines grainy archival footage with soaring high-def aerials of the land art canon. James Crump and his team succeed in making a documentary that let the art and artists speak for themselves. “Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art” proves that. ![]() It would be ridiculous to say that land art has not left its mark. The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, 2005. Michael Heizer, “Double Negative”, 1969–70, From Troublemakers. For me personally, it reinscribes how insignificant as individuals we are in overall cosmic scheme, in terms of geologic time,” said Crump. “One of the most remarkable things about visiting is you are placed into a space where you are forced by scale to reconsider yourself within the cosmos, in relationship to the cosmos because you are really feeling and experiencing your own body in this context of a very large, very daunting open space of the American southwest. This egocentric view crumbles before the grandeur of the desert. Charles Ross’s “ Star Axis” is an earth temple crawling skyward in perfect celestial alignment.īut more impressive than the work’s sheer size, land art disrupts humans’ idea of their role in the world. Nancy Holt’s “ Sun Tunnels” consists of four massive concrete tubes tuned to the movements of the stars in the expanse of the Utah’s Great Basin Desert. Prominent works like Robert Smithson’s “ Spiral Jetty” thrust 1500 feet into the Great Salt Lake. The larger-than-life creations dwarf humans with the sheer scale. The isolation aspect, the road-trip element, the experience of getting to this place and going for hours without seeing another car in a remarkably beautiful but seriously remote place,” said Crump. Meaning, the road trip to drive is part of it… Back then you had an analog map and you might get lost and you might drive off the edge of a mesa, it was really challenging. And so isolation for a lot of these artists was an intentional part of the work itself. “ declared that isolation was the essence of land art. And in their search for this greater art, these artists were also seeking the Thoreau-like liberty of isolation. Digging holes, moving stones, smashing mountains, nothing was beyond their grasp. “I lived in New Mexico for over a decade and in the 90’s, I made my first trip to Walter DeMaria’s “ The Lightning Field.” And really since that time, the story’s been gestating… it has to do with obsession and passion and just living with these stories, these characters for a long time.”īuilding from the earth itself, artists created work that spanned the deserts and mesas of the southwest. ![]() Crump’s fascination was born from his time in New Mexico. These artists found their canvas in geography and land of America’s southwest. The documentary is the culmination of art historian and filmmaker James Crump’s obsession with land or earth art, a loosely associated network of artists and artwork who created on a monumental scale.Įmerging from the New York City gallery scene of the late 60’s, artists fled the Big Apple in hopes of finding greener pastures. “Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art” debuted to a crowded theater in downtown’s LA’s Ace Hotel this Tuesday. ![]()
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