The Line

With the simple knowledge of 'being' being at the heart of his work, we can look at the other concepts he expresses. His use of lines, particularly together with a gradient of colour, gives a feeling of movement. We travel along it with our eyes and experience the change of colour. With the change of experience, we experience change. This change happens purely within ourselves. His lines are often curved and there are two distinct forms that emerge as the complexity increases.

Broken pebbles, scratched white with another stone.
AT ABBS, THE BORDERS. 1st JUNE 1985.

Several times the wavy line appears as a message to us. Serpentine and flowing, it runs like a river encouraging flexibility, expanding in size as it does so. Less common is the spiral, circling round whilst expanding and contracting at either end. A symbol for life as it passes through the seasonal and daily cycles growing and expanding. He also uses lines constructed from broken objects to show us separation and schism. More lines mean more complexity, we have the possibility of shape, solidity and complexity, bringing us back to reality and to our lives in this world. Many of us long for the simplicity of the circle again and seek to retain being in our lives. Andy Goldsworthy for his part appears to have achieved it to a degree, creating and simply experiencing his artwork unfold around him.