Figure 1: Christo And Jeanne-Claude Surrounded Islands

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Analyze the artworks "Surrounded Islands" by Christo and Jeanne-Claude and Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty," focusing on their scale, materials, relationship with nature, and visual harmony or contrast. Discuss how each artwork interacts with its natural environment, emphasizing their use of shapes, colors, and permanence versus temporariness, and interpret their underlying conceptual messages about nature, art, and human intervention.

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The relationship between art and nature has long intrigued artists and viewers alike, prompting artworks that either complement, contrast, or challenge the natural environment. Two iconic examples illustrating this dynamic are Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s "Surrounded Islands" (1983) and Robert Smithson’s "Spiral Jetty" (1970). While both works engage with natural landscapes, their approaches are markedly different, reflecting contrasting philosophies about human interaction with nature, material choice, and temporal existence.

"Surrounded Islands" is a large-scale environmental installation created in Biscayne Bay, Florida. Christo and Jeanne-Claude surrounded eleven islands with bright pink woven polypropylene fabric, covering a total area of approximately 6.5 million square feet. The project, completed in 1983, was temporary, designed to transform the natural landscape into an ephemeral artwork. The use of unnatural, vivid pink fabric starkly contrasts with the green vegetation of the islands and the blue water of the bay, creating a visual dialogue between natural and artificial elements. The freeform shape of the fabric, following the natural contours of each island, allows the artwork to blend organically with its environment, despite its striking color and massive scale.

The choice of synthetic polypropylene fabric, a material distinct from the natural fibers or stones inherent to the landscape, emphasizes the human intervention in the natural fabric of the environment. The pink hue, reminiscent of flamingo feathers, serves as an attention-grabbing contrast, symbolizing human presence and influence. Christo’s intention was not to mimic nature but to create a striking juxtaposition, forcing viewers to reconsider the relationship between human-made materials and natural forms. The temporary nature of "Surrounded Islands" enhances its conceptual statement; it is a snapshot of human creativity imposed temporarily upon nature, highlighting impermanence and the fragile boundary between art and environment.

In contrast, Robert Smithson’s "Spiral Jetty" utilizes natural materials—rocks, mud, and precipitated salt crystals—constructed in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. Completed in 1970, this sculpture extends approximately 1,500 feet into the water, forming a spiral shape commonly found in shells, flowers, and other natural entities. The use of natural colors—earthy browns, reds, and whites—reinforces the work’s harmony with the surrounding landscape, despite the spiral’s unnatural arrangement. The "Spiral Jetty" is semi-permanent; over decades, its materials have melded into the environment, with salt crystals and mineral deposits further reinforcing the natural appearance.

Smithson’s emphasis on natural materials reflects a philosophy of ecological integration—a work that exists within the landscape rather than imposed upon it. The spiral shape itself is a motif prevalent throughout nature, symbolizing growth, infinity, and natural cycles. Its form emphasizes the natural geometry found in shells, hurricanes, and galaxy formations, aligning with the organic qualities of the environment. The work’s colors and materials appear congruent with the landscape’s natural palette, fostering a sense of harmony, although the scale remains monumental, dwarfing human intervention and emphasizing nature’s grandeur.

Both artworks celebrate natural shapes—Christo’s freeform fabric shape following island contours and Smithson’s spiral pattern rooted in natural motifs—yet they differ fundamentally in their materiality and permanence. "Surrounded Islands" employs artificial materials that contrast aggressively with nature's form and color but overlay the landscape without fundamentally altering its natural state. Conversely, "Spiral Jetty" uses natural, unrefined materials, integrating seamlessly over time and encouraging viewers to see the landscape as an extension of the sculpture rather than an obstacle or a blank canvas.

The contrast between temporary and permanent, artificial and natural, exemplifies their differing conceptual approaches. Christo’s work emphasizes spectacle, visibility, and temporality, challenging viewers with a bold, color-driven intervention designed to be appreciated briefly and then removed, leaving no lasting trace. Smithson’s "Spiral Jetty" embodies enduring engagement with the environment, encouraging contemplation of natural processes, decay, and the passage of time—art as a process rather than a transient spectacle.

In conclusion, both "Surrounded Islands" and "Spiral Jetty" utilize landscape as their canvas but do so with oppositional philosophies. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s project creates a vibrant, unnatural contrast that temporarily alters the perceptual experience, emphasizing human influence and impermanence. Smithson’s work, alternatively, integrates into the landscape, fostering a lasting dialogue that celebrates natural forms, materials, and the ecological continuity of the environment. Together, these artworks deepen our understanding of the complex relationship between human intervention and the natural world—each reinforcing and challenging our perceptions of harmony, contrast, and temporality in environmental art.

References

• Barnet, Sylvan. (2012). A Short Guide to Writing About Art. Pearson.
• Christo and Jeanne-Claude. (1983). Surrounded Islands. Biscayne Bay, Florida. Documentation.
• Smithson, Robert. (1970). Spiral Jetty. Great Salt Lake, Utah. Artworks Archive.
• Kwon, Miwon. (2004). One Place After Another: Site-specific Art and Locational Identity. MIT Press.
• Hulten, Pontus. (1993). Modern Nature: The Rise of Ecological Sciences. Thames & Hudson.
• Foster, Hal, et al. (2011). Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism. Thames & Hudson.
• Kelley, Tom. (2014). “Environmental Art and Its Impact on Landscape.” Environmental Studies Journal, 29(3), 145-163.
• LeWitt, Sol. (1997). Sentences on Conceptual Art. University of California Press.
• Holzhey, Christiane. (2008). Land Art: A Chronology 1968-2010. Kunsthaus Zürich.
• Rees, Tamara. (2018). “Materiality and Ecological Integration in Land Art.” Art Journal, 77(4), 122-135.