This document summarizes and describes several earthworks, sculptures, installations and artworks created between 1969-2005. It touches on works by Robert Smithson, Christo, Maya Lin, Betye Saar, Faith Ringgold, Judy Chicago, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Rachel Whiteread, El Anatsui, and Nam June Paik. The works address themes of landscape, feminism, identity, history, and the integration of new media like video and technology into art.

1. Earthworks

3. Smithson, Spiral Jetty1969-1970Sought to illustrate the “ongoing dialectic” in nature between constructive forces and destructive forces1,500 ft spiraling stone and earth platform extending into the Great Salt Lake in UtahLake recalls both the origins of life in the salty waters of the primordial ocean and also the end of lifeAbandoned oil rigs that dot the shoreline suggested prehistoric dinosaurs and some vanished civilizationSpiral- most fundamental shape in nature, dialectical (shape that opens and closes, curls and uncurls endlessly)Smithson ordered no maintenance be done on the work

5. Christo, Running Fence197624 ½ miles long, 18 feet high nylon fence that crossed two counties in northern California and extended into the Pacific Ocean (location chosen for aesthetic reasons as well as to link urban, suburban, and rural spaces)Jeanne-Claude and Christo like to reveal the beauty in various spacesFence broke down social barriers among supporters such as students, ranchers, lawyers, and artistsThe work remained in place for 2 weeks and then was taken down

7. Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial1982The Mall, Washington DCAbstract and intimate conjoined with basic ideas of minimal grandeur of long, black granite walls and row upon row of engraved namesStatement of loss, sorrow, and the futility of warTimeless monument to suffering humanity, faceless in sacrificeSubject of controversy due to Minimalist styleCompetition for commissionNot only reflects faces of visitors but also reflects Washington Monument (reminds viewer of sacrifices made in defense of liberty throughout history of US)

8. Photo Realism

9. Feminist Art

11. Betye Saar, Liberation of Aunt Jemima1972, Mixed mediaHer assemblages show political militancy rare in postwar American artAppropriates the derogatory stereotype of the cheerfully servile “mammy” and transforms it into an icon of militant black feminist powerBackground papered with smiling advertising image of Aunt JemimaNotepad holder in the form of Aunt JemimaBroom whose handle is pencil for the notepadRifleIn place of the notepad is a picture of another jolly mammy holding a crying child identified by the artist as a mulatto (both black and white ancestry)Clenched fist in front of her stands for Black PowerArmed Jemima liberates herself not only from racial oppression but also from traditional gender roles that had long relegated black women to such subservient positions as domestic servant or mammy

12. Faith RinggoldAfrican American artist (born 1930) who drew on traditional American craft of quilt making and combined it with rich heritage of African textiles to create memorable statements about American race relationsPut paint on soft fabrics rather than stretched canvasesFramed images with decorative quilted bordersQuilts narrated by women and usually address themes related to women’s livesMessages are reminders to the viewer of the real social and economic limitations that African Americans have faced through American history

14. Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party1974-1979Painted porcelain, needleworkComposed of a large, triangular table (each side stretching 48 feet) which rests on a triangular platform covered with 2,300 triangular porcelain tilesTriangle- symbol of equalized world sought by feminism, one of the earliest symbols of womenPorcelain “Heritage Floor” bears the names of 999 notable women from myth, legend, and historyThirteen place settings along the side of each triangle each represent a famous womanEach place setting features a 14-inch-wide painted porcelain plate, ceramic flatware, ceramic chalice with gold interior, embroidered napkin all on a runnerMost plates feature abstract designs of female genitalia because, Chicago said, “that is all [the women at the table] had in common…They were from different periods, classes, ethnicities, geographies, experiences, but what kept them within the same combined historical space” was the fact of their biological sexWomen had been “swallowed up and obscured by history instead of being recognized and honored” (represented by plates)Wanted to raise awareness of the many contributions women have made to history, thereby fostering women’s empowerment in the present

15. Cindy ShermanMade a series of works beginning in the late 1970’s in which she posed herself in made-up self settings that quote well-known plots of old moviesAll her works examine the rolls that our popular culture assigns to women, and Sherman shows that she understands them all very well and she plays them willinglyHer personality is the sum of all the movies that she has seen, and she does not know where the real Cindy Sherman starts and the one derived from movies stops

16. Barbara KrugerBorn 1945More militant point than Cindy Sherman with slightly different mediaWork quotes magazine advertising layouts (catchy photograph and slogan inscribed)Slogan talks back to the viewer with a confrontational sentence that sounds feministNot an “original”  piece of graphic design that can be reproducedWorked in other public media, including billboards and bus shelter posters, implanting her subversive messages directly into the flow of media and advertising

18. Jaune Quick-to-See-Smith, The Red Mean: Self Portrait1992Acrylic, newspaper collage, and mixed media on canvas, 92”x60”Native American“Made in the USA” above an identification numberCentral figure quotes Vitruvian Man, but message is autobiographicalSilhouette placed inside the red X that signified nuclear radiationAlludes both to the uranium mines found on some Indian reservations and also to the fact that many have become temporary repositories for nuclear wasteBackground- collage of Native American tribal newspapersIncludes her ethic identity and life on the reservation as well as the history of Western art

19. 1990’s-2000’s

21. Rachel Whiteread, Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial2000Steel and concrete, Vienna, AustriaUrges us to take a fresh look at everyday things by making casts of themTurns negative spaces into concrete blocksONLY INFORMATION GIVEN IN BOOK; PIECE NOT DISCUSSED

23. El Anatsui, After Kings2005Aluminum (liquor bottle caps) and copper wire88” x 70”Gathered several thousand aluminum tops, flattened them, and stitched them together with copper wire to form large wall piecesTops were chosen not only because they were plentiful but also for symbolic meaning (“To me, the bottle tops encapsulate the essence of the alcoholic drinks which were brought to Africa by Europeans as trade items at the time of the earliest contrast between these two people….”)Changes garbage into a form that resembles a traditional kente cloth from the Ahsanti culture of Ghana (originally for nobility only  explains the title of the work)

25. Nam June Paik, Electronic Superhighway: Continental US1995Closed-circuit installation with 313 monitors, neon, steel structure, color and sound“as collage technique replaced oil paint, the cathode ray [television] tube will replace the canvas”Strongly influenced by John CageWorked with live, recorded, and computer-generated images displayed on video monitors of varying sizes, which he often combined into sculptural ensemblesSite specificFeatured a map of continental US outlined in neon and backed by video monitors perpetually flashing with color and movement and accompanied by soundMonitors display images reflecting the states culture and historyException: state of New York, whose monitors displayed live, closed-circuit images of the gallery visitors, placing them in the artwork and transforming them from passive spectators into active participants