Author: Robert Smithson

Quotes

Art's development should be dialectical and not metaphysical.

Art's development should be dialectical and not metaphysical.

- Robert Smithson

Nature is never finished.

Nature is never finished.

- Robert Smithson

A work of art when placed in a gallery loses its charge, and becomes a portable object or surface disengaged from the outside world.

A work of art when placed in a gallery loses its charge, and becomes a portable object or surface disengaged from the outside world.

- Robert Smithson

Art history is less explosive than the rest of history, so it sinks faster into the pulverized regions of time.

Art history is less explosive than the rest of history, so it sinks faster into the pulverized regions of time.

- Robert Smithson

Nature does not proceed in a straight line, it is rather a sprawling development.

Nature does not proceed in a straight line, it is rather a sprawling development.

- Robert Smithson

Objects in a park suggest static repose rather than any ongoing dialectic. Parks are finished landscapes for finished art .

Objects in a park suggest static repose rather than any ongoing dialectic. Parks are finished landscapes for finished art .

- Robert Smithson

Instead of causing us to remember the past like the old monuments, the new monuments seem to cause us to forget the future.

Instead of causing us to remember the past like the old monuments, the new monuments seem to cause us to forget the future.

- Robert Smithson

Parks are idealizations of nature, but nature in fact is not a condition of the ideal.

Parks are idealizations of nature, but nature in fact is not a condition of the ideal.

- Robert Smithson

History is representational, while time is abstract; both of these artifices may be found in museums, where they span everybody's own vacancy.

History is representational, while time is abstract; both of these artifices may be found in museums, where they span everybody's own vacancy.

- Robert Smithson

Similar Authors: