Maya Lin : Systematic Landscapes

by Essays by Richard Andrews and John Beardsley; Foreword by Lawrence Weschler

• ISBN13: 9780300121209
• ISBN10: 0300121202
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2006-11-06
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

"Utilizing the way in which scientists and computers see our world, drawing on images based on sonar views of the ocean floor, to aerial and satellite views of the land, I have started to create artworks that translate that technological view into sculptural forms." (Maya Lin) One of the most celebrated artists working in the United States, Maya Lin (b. 1959) came to prominence in 1981 with her design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Generously illustrated and beautifully designed,Systematic Landscapestraces her continued fascination with geologic phenomena and topography, integrating natural contours and materials into evocative landscape sculptures such asCharacter of a Hill Under Glass(2002) and11 Minute Line(2004). As the book reveals, Lin's earthworks and public sculptures have always developed alongside small-scale, exploratory sculptures and monumental temporary installations, such asAvalanche(1998), through which Lin evokes the physical processes that shape the earth. This important volume also introduces three major new installation works created for the "Systematic Landscapes" exhibition, along with a series of related drawings and reliefs demonstrating the expanding scope of Lin's creative process. The largest of these installations,2 x 4 Landscape, is composed from more than 45,000 sections of lumber placed on end that from a distance take on a pixel-like image of a hill, and close up create a form that evokes both mound and wave, earth and water. Systematic Landscapesis of interest to newcomers to Maya Lin's work as well as to longtime enthusiasts of her unique artistic creations and stunning design work.

Author Biography

Richard Andrews is Director of the Henry Art Gallery. John Beardsley is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. Lawrence Weschler is Director of the New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University.

Table of Contents

Outside in : Maya Lin's systematic landscapes	p. 61
Hidden in plain view : the land art of Maya Lin	p. 85
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