Richard Long

Description

In the 1960s, Richard Long made one of the most significant breakthroughs in the development of British sculpture when he chose to explore the realms of distance and space in a particular way. Not unusual concerns for a sculptor, but the scale of his work, and the way it is recorded, gave new dimensions to sculptural practice. He undertook marathon walks in the most distant and deserted places in the world, and made sculptures relating to those landscapes. A particular part of a terrain would be singled out and a composition involving that view would be made with objects found on the site. Recorded as photographs, maps and short texts, these works have evolved throughout his career. He also collects materials which he brings in to the gallery or museum, local materials, possibly, materials that are relevant to the place, and arranges simple circles, rectangles, squares or lines in response to the architecture of the building. His highly developed sense of space ensures a completely satisfying and 'correct' placement and alignment: stones, sticks, lumps of coal, slate, chalk or flint, variously positioned in solid or linear forms.

Six Stone Circles is a slightly different work. Normally Long's outdoor sculpture is ephemeral, useful only until it is recorded, then left for nature to do her worst. Here is a permanent piece sited in an outdoor setting. The Delabole slate from a quarry in Cornwall is arranged in six concentric circles, the larger pieces in the outer circle, the smaller ones at the centre. This sculpture was originally commissioned by Mrs Kieler, on the advice of Dr David Brown when he was a Curator of the Modern Collection at the Tate Gallery. The circles were sited in a wooded part of Mrs Kieler's garden at Kingston-on-Thames. Her collection has since been dispersed, and at Hat Hill we have placed the circles in a clearing in the trees, as instructed by the artist.