The Art of Richard Long : Complete Works

The central fact and act of Richard Long’s art is walking. His work is founded on the art of walking, the act of walking, the actuality of walking, and on walking as art, as act, as experience. His walks become ‘artwalks’, artwalks which become artworks.

For Richard Long, (art)walking is (art)working. As he walks he works. Art-walking and art-working become interchangeable. ‘I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks – who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering’, wrote Henry Thoreau.

Much of Richard Long’s art consists of measuring walks, mapping walks, walks and executing walks. Memories of walks, dreams of walks... walks in the past, in history. Later and earlier walks in the same landscapes: Dartmoor, Somerset, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Mexico, India. Real walks, but also artwalks. Walks in imaginary circles or lines. Walks between celestial occurrences such as sunrises or eclipses or solstices. Routes planned and mapped in the studio then carried out in the real world. Walks carrying stones, throwing stones, dropping stones, piling stones. Splashing water. Photographing campsites or mountaintops. Walks in forests and deserts and plains and villages and cities and leafy country lanes. Walks in which lots happens and walks in which nothing much happens. Walks in which hardly anyone is encountered. Walks executed mainly alone, but sometimes with others. Occasional walks with other artists, or critics, or friends. Walks which produce many sculptures along the way and walks which produce only a few words in a frame. Walks which don’t produce any work at all. Favourite walks, favourite routes, favourite places, favourite terrain.