“My new brush is the Caterpillar,” says artist Walter De Maria early on in Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art, James Crump‘s beautiful new documentary on the birth of land art that screens Wednesday at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Known variously as “earthworks,” “land art,” or “dirt art,” depending on whom you ask, this artistic movement began during the early 1960s as a reaction against the gallery-show format. The idea was to create something that couldn’t be sold, or even moved. In order to accomplish such a feat, artists like De Maria, Robert Smithson, and Michael Heizer had to leave their studios and go outdoors.
Many of the lesser figures of the movement like Carl Andre, Vito Acconci, and Lawrence Weiner are interviewed, but only one female artist is mentioned. Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels is given its due toward the end of the film, but I wondered if others were left out. The first name which came to mind was Ana Mendieta, whose work is certainly related. She died in 1985 by falling out of a window after a loud quarrel with Andre—an event for which many hold the latter responsible—but in fairness, the film’s main focus is the 60s and 70s, so her story falls outside its scope. Still, I’d be curious to know whether land art was really so dominated by these Marlboro Man types.
