This document provides details about an individual's personal study on how humans have affected nature. It discusses three artists - Nils Udo, Anselm Kiefer, and Alan Sonfist - that incorporate themes of human impacts on the environment in their work. For each artist, it analyzes specific art pieces through descriptions of materials, dimensions, and interpretations of meaning. The study aims to gain ideas for practical work by exploring different techniques used by the artists to represent human effects like global warming, deforestation, and pollution.

1. Personal Study
Human affects on Nature
In my personal study and project I want to show though my art work the human
affects on Nature. In this personal study I will look at nature inspired artists and
environmental artist. Within this I will analyse different techniques, mediums and
dimensions of compositions. I want to look at different affect we have on nature, for
example: global warming, deforestation, extinctions, poaching and captivity. Looking
at these affects I will establish which issues works best in a composition and see
which techniques work best to explore them.
I will look at three artist who I believe shows nature within there work show the
human affects within their work. I want to look an artist that have influenced me in
my art work as-well as linking to this personal study.
I think Nils Udo's work is a good place to start because he works alongside nature
and creates amazing sculptures and art. I believe I could gain ideas for my practical
work looking at Nils Udo's work because his work has in-depth meaning and I would
like to create this within my work.
Anselm Kiefer is the second artist I want to look at because from the beginning of
this project his name and work keeps coming into my mind when I think of the art I
like and nature. When painting I mainly just use paint but Anselm Kiefer adds
materials into his work to add texture and this I think would be a good technique I
could experiment with.

2. Alan Sonfist well be the third artist I will look at in more detail because I feel that
Land/earth Art is tan art movement which I feel strongly about, which best
accompanies my project, “Human Effects on Nature”. I believe that Alan Sonfist
shows this well so I will look at his work in more detail.
Nils Udo
Nils Udo was born in 1937 and is a Bavarian artist. He has
created environmental art since the 1960s. He originally was a
painter and worked in a studio but began to work in, around
and with nature. He went from painting nature to creating site
specific pieces using nature. His response to the surroundings
of where he is and makes it fit in with the environment. Nature
is his source and inspiration.
n this project I am looking at how humans have affected nature
and this links to Nils Udo's work because he is creating art that
isn't harming nature and he shows this message in his work.

3. Nils Udo stated“Even if I work parallel to nature and only
intervene with the greatest possible care, a basic internal
contradiction remains.”
Nils Udo may have been influenced by the art movement Land
Art. This art movement is where landscape and the work of art
are inextricably linked. Land Art is an art form which is created
in nature using natural materials.

4. This image created by Nils Udo showing a person in the fetal
position, naked inside a nest. The nest is made up of long straight
sticks which frame the person inside it.
This image says to me that when we are born, we are pure and
part of nature. I get this from the fact that the person is naked and
there surrounding nature. The nest represents, to me, being born. I
really like the idea of this piece and I like that he doesn’t pollute his
sites of his art pieces but he edits from what he finds around the
site.
The fact that he doesn’t pollute his sites but re-arranges them to
create his site specific art work.

5. This image was created by Nile Udo and it is shows the base
of the tree with its roots prominently raised from the ground.
Nils Udo has dug away a square of the ground to reveal more
roots. This could show that the roots are delicate or vulnerable
in the ground.
This image says to me that nature is everywhere and not just
where you see it but underground in hidden place. I believe
Nils Udo wanted to show the vulnerability of the roots in the
ground of a tree.

6. I think the reasoning behind this image is to show the viewer
an extraordinary structure which is created in nature.
This image by Nils Udo shows a tree trunk with a split on the
surface. The split has a red substance inside it which contrasts
with the natural colours of the tree and the surrounding.
Plants and trees are not human but it does not mean that we
should vandalise nature and affect nature in a negative way.
The red substance represents, to me, that the tree is wounded
and dying. This could represent the human affects on nature. I
think the reason behind this image is that Nils Udo wants to

7. demonstrate that nature is important and without it we wouldn’t
be here. The most important part of this image is the red
substance because without without it, it would have no
message.
Alan Sonfist
Alan Sonfist was born in 1946 in New York and is an artist
which is associated with the art movement Land/earth Art. He
is based in New York and his first famous sculpture is known
as “Time Landscape” in 1965. “Time Landscape” took 10 years
of planning.
The link is the respect of nature, I believe that there work
shows this.
“My art presents nature. I isolate certain aspects of nature to
gain emphasis, to make clear its power to affect us, to give the
viewer an awareness that can be translated into a total
unravelling of the cosmos.” This is a quote by Alan Sonfist.

8. Name: Disappearing Forest of Germany
Location: Kiln Sculpture Park, Germany
Material: Aluminum/stainless Steel, encapsulated seeds
Size:4 x 8 x 2 ft (each)
This image was created by Alan Sonfist and shows three leaf sculptures
on the ground under trees. The name of the piece I believe explains the
meaning of this image. I believe the meaning behind Alan Sonfist piece
if art is that the forests in Germany are “disappearing” and he wanted to
get his message across in other ways other than words. I believe that
this image shows this message.
Leaves fall in autumn for when the trees look bare and this makes them
look dead in the winter.
The leaves on the floor represent the destruction of the forest and this
comes across in the sculptures. Also the leaves are not coloured which

9. suggest to me that this means that the leaves, once fallen, are lifeless
and the lack of colour shows this.
I think the sculptures are bigger and, almost, abstract than the size of
normal leaves to make a statement and I believe it has.
Name: Pool of Earth
Location: Lewistown, New York
Material: indigenous stone and earth
Size: 50 ft. Diameter x 1 meter high
This piece of art was created by Alan Sonfist which shows lifeless
ground with a circle of “indigenous stone” and inside wild flowers. This
image represents to me that nature can exist anywhere, even in a place
which you would not think of (Chemical waste dump).

10. I think the main subject in this image is the life inside the circle because
it provides the meaning behind the image. The contrast between the
stone, flowers and the ground highlights this.
The title “Pool of Earth” really contributes to this image because it helps
the viewer to think about the earth as nature. The circular shape of the
leave I believe was create to represent the earth.
Name: Endangered Forest of the East, Fall
Materials: Mixed Media
Date: 1990
Size: 42 x 60 in.
This image was created by Alan Sonfist and is of a forest and the colour
seems to be an important part in this piece of art. The name of this piece
suggests that this image was created to shows the beauty of an
“Endangered Forest”. The name has the strongest link to my theme

11. because it shows the negativeeffects on nature were properly man
made.
The colours in this image I think show the beauty in this image because
the colours are bright and vibrant and make the image more interesting.
There is a photo-joiner affect to the image and I think this represents the
forest needs putting back together like a puzzle. (David Hockney is well
known for photo-joiners. It’s where you use two or more images to
create another).
Anselm Kiefer
Anselm Kiefer was born in 1945 and is a German painter and
sculptor. His work has been exhibited in museums around the
world. The work he produced is usually made up of straw, ash,
clay, lead and shellac (shellac is a resin melted into thin flakes,
used for varnish). Paul Celan poem has influenced Anselm
Kiefer in his work by introducing and developing the theme of
German history and the horror of the Holocaust.
Some of his work has involved nature in it but the main reason
I wanted to look at Anselm Kiefer is the technique he maily
uses in his paintings. The texture he creates in his paintings is

12. really interesting I wanted to look at it in more detail and to see
how he creates this texture.
“Buying art is not understanding art” This is a quote by Anselm
Kiefer and I think this says a lot about the meaning of art. I
believe art should have a meaning and creating art is a
personal way to express your thoughts and feelings.

13. This image was created by Anselm Kiefer and it shows an old
railway which looks deserted. Anselm Kiefer has created this image
making the image look old and broken which correlates with the
railway. The image seems to have a 3D look to it because of the
raised and textured surface of the image. The railway creates a
sense of depth in the image because in the background the railway
narrows towards the back of the image.
This image represents to me death and destruction because of the
dull colours, the rough looking texture of the image and also the
content of the image being an old railway that doesn’t look in use.

14. This image links to my theme because it shows destruction and this
image looks like it was probably destroyed by humans.
Bohemia Lies by the Sea, 1996
Oil, emulsion, shellac, charcoal, and powdered paint on burlap; Overall: 75 1/4 x 221 in.
(191.1 x 561.3 cm); 2 panels, each: H. 75 1/4 x 110 1/2 in. (191.x 280.7 cm)
This image was also created by Anselm Kiefer and it shows a
path though a field of flowers. The path is in the centre of the
foreground creating depth in the image because it decreases in
size as it gets further from the foreground.
The piece has a texture to it which makes the image look more
realistic and this seems to be a technique which Anselm Kiefer
is most known for. I think the main focus in this image is the
path because it’s the first thing which I see. I think the path has
some meaning behind the image because it’s the main focus.

15. This image links to my theme because the it shows a field of
flowers and the path could represent the destruction of nature
because the path is probably man made.
The range of different mediums that he used to create this
image is really interesting because there not things that you
would usually use to create a painting.
2012
Oil, emulsion, acrylic, on photograph on canvas
110 1/4 x 149 5/8 inches (280 x 380 cm )
This image by Anselm Kiefer depicts a meadow of flowers. In the
foreground there are flowers close up and in the background the flower
become smaller to create depth. The colours in the image are very dull

16. apart from a couple of bright colours from the flowers. This image has
texture and this makes the close up part of the image more realistic.
The image has some small writing on it and this is something Anselm
Kiefer does often. The writing could be explaining the image or
describing the image.(quotes in German)
I think the little parts of the image that have bright colours represents
nature and the dull represent what humans are doing to nature and the
destruction the war has.
Bibliography
http://artquotes.robertgenn.com/auth_search.php?authid=4306#.UsRvTazuPbI
http://ecologicalart.org/nilsudo.html
http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag99/sept99/nils/nils.shtml
http://www.alansonfist.com/biography/index.html