The environment is changing rapidly due to human-caused climate change. It's not just theoretical; as glaciers melt and the world becomes hotter, we must act. We're not powerless, and creatives are in a unique position to inspire climate action. Artists are working just as hard to raise consciousness on environmental issues, evoke change, and document the beauty of the natural world before it’s too late.
There is a type of art that is focused on the Earth. Known as environmental art, this wide-ranging genre can encompass the vast beauty of natural landscapes while also showing the detrimental effects of global warming and the harms to the ecology of our planet. No matter how Earth art is depicted, there is an aesthetic quality to the pieces that is taken into consideration alongside the concept behind the works.
What is environmental art?
The environmental art movement emerged in the 20th century, specifically the 1960s and early 1970s, primarily celebrating the artist’s connection with nature. Pioneers of the movement, such as Nils-Udo, became famous for creating site-specific sculptures and installations from found natural materials, then documenting their works with photography.
While earlier artists such as Udo celebrate the beauty of nature, many of today’s artists are using a wide range of media, techniques and styles to address social issues and the negative impact we as human beings are having on our planet. Contemporary environmental artists often explore topics related to:
- Impact of human activity on the planet
- Social justice through environmental action
- General awareness of the climate emergency
- Documenting Earth's treasures before they disappear (such as glaciers)
- Climate activism
Discover 8 of the most notable environmental artists of our time.
Nils-Udo
German artist Nils-Udo celebrates the beauty of nature by working with found materials, such as leaves and branches, to create stunning, site-specific works. He’s known for creating “utopias” that transform the land into mysterious, dreamlike realms. From delicately arranged petals scattered on the surface of a pond, to spectacular nests formed from twigs, leaves, and wildflowers, his works look as though they were created by busy woodland fairies or creatures of the forest.
His artist statement reads: “By installing plantings or by integrating them into more complex installations, the work is literally implanted into nature. As a part of nature, the work lives and passes away in the rhythm of the seasons.”
Andy Goldsworthy
View this post on Instagram
British sculptor, photographer, and environmentalist Andy Goldsworthy is known for his site-specific land art made from natural, found materials. He crafts his installations out of rocks, ice, leaves, or branches, then carefully documents how the ephemeral installations change and wither over time. “It’s not about art,” he explains. “It’s just about life and the need to understand that a lot of things in life do not last.”
Robert Smithson
In April 1970, American sculptor Robert Smithson constructed Spiral Jetty, his most well-known and enduring work of land art. Spiral Jetty is located in Corinne, Utah, and it highlights how the environment grows and changes, both presently and over many decades. When the artwork was created over 50 years ago, it was partially submerged by the Great Salt Lake. Now, it sits in a dry lake bed, demonstrating the striking recession of the largest saline lake in the Western Hemisphere.
Richard Shilling
View this post on Instagram
Inspired by the work of Goldsworthy, British artist Richard Shilling uses natural materials gathered from the environment to create outdoor sculptural installations. Exploring form and color, his most recognizable works include his stained glass-like sculptures made from colorful leaves, and his stacked rock totems. He tells My Modern Met, “Nature art is simply just one way of expressing the joy of feeling at one with the environment.”
Agnes Denes
Hungarian conceptual artist Agnes Denes is often referred to as “the grandmother” of the early environmental art movement. She emerged during the 1960s and ‘70s and created many environment-inspired, site-specific pieces. Her most famous work, titled Wheatfield, a Confrontation, was created during four months in the spring and summer of 1982. With the support of the Public Art Fund, Denes planted a field of golden wheat on two acres of landfill near Wall Street in lower Manhattan.
Now based in New York, Denes continues to work in a wide range of media. From poetry and writing to complex hand and computer-rendered diagrams, the artist explores the relationship between nature and the urban environment.
Chris Jordan
Seattle-based artist and photographer Chris Jordan exposes consumerist culture and uses shocking images of plastic waste to remind us about how we are destroying our planet. In his series titled Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption, he explored some of America’s shipping ports and industrial yards, where he captured colossal piles of discarded goods, such as cellphones and computer parts.
“I am appalled by these scenes, and yet also drawn into them with awe and fascination,” reveals the artist. “The immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity.”
In his short film, ALBATROSS, Jordan reveals the gut-wrenching environmental tragedy of tens of thousands of albatross chicks. On a remote island in the heart of the great Pacific, Chris and his filming team witnessed cycles of birth, life, and finally death caused by plastic pollution. The shocking footage shows the birds lying dead on the ground with their bodies filled with plastic.
Jason deCaires Taylor
View this post on Instagram
Sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor creates underwater installations that highlight the challenges our ocean faces while helping to rebuild marine communities. His eco-friendly artworks are placed in areas that have been damaged by tourism and environmental disasters like hurricanes. They help revive underwater communities by helping to benefit local ecology and give organisms a place to live and grow.
I think artists have a moral obligation,” he tells My Modern Met. “We're really important for helping to shape people's feelings and emotions and inspire people and warn people about what's happening. And I think scientists are very good at producing the data that supports it. But I think what's really important is to be able to emotionally connect to people to help inspire social change. And I think that's where we come in.”
Benjamin Von Wong
Photographer Benjamin Von Wong creates beautiful, thought-provoking images that create awareness of issues such as climate change and plastic pollution in our oceans. His high-concept projects involve innovative use of materials, which is especially true in a project that focused on e-waste. By partnering with Dell and Wistron Greentech, Wong acquired the estimated amount of electronic waste created by an average citizen of the United States in one lifetime and turned it into stunning, post-apocalyptic imagery.
Learn more about the project below.
This article has been edited and updated.
Related Articles:
100-Artist Exhibition Showcases Art’s Enduring Role in Activism and Empowerment
4,100 Pounds of E-Waste Are Transformed Into Post-Apocalyptic Landscapes
Artist’s Captivating Land Art Emphasizes the Magnificence of Materials Found in Nature