The Circle

Bright sunny morning, frozen snow, cut slab, scraped snow away with a stick, just short of breaking through.
IZUMI-MURA, JAPAN. 19th DECEMBER 1987.

 

The circle appears to be the commonest form that Goldsworthy explores, and he has used the full range of material with which to explore it with; snow, ice, leaves, and flowers, sticks and stones. Often he shows us it in an extra dimension, as a sphere, as with his Midsummer Snowballs or at other times in a negative fashion as a hole such as with his Rowan Leaves. I particularly like the reference to symmetry he created with knotweed stalks using reflection in the water to complete the circular illusion. These are however quite superficial details of his works.
When one considers that the artist has spent the whole day simply being and becoming with the art and the landscape, one realises that the key to understanding it lies in relaxing and simply enjoying being, whilst looking on at the creation. This state of joy and relaxation is a level of trance. It is a shamanic technique, one that has been practiced since the dawn of time. The meaning of the circle shamanically speaking is precisely this, being, at one, simple existence, perfectly conveyed using only natural materials.
Sometimes his circles have a feeling of aura, achieved by a gradient of colour out from the centre, it encourages us to reach out with our being and feel the world around us. Sometimes they have interior detail, asking us to look within, but still we are encouraged to be, for that is all that is needed to understand his work.