Installation Art: The Work of Essay

The lonely and symmetrical blackness is stark. At first it looks ordinary, merely decorative. But the shining blackness is harsh against the blinding white of the floor, and seems even more poignant against the gleeful yellow of the brick walls around it. Although the geometry of the work is arresting given the contrast of colors, the work does not call attention to itself as art. But upon being prompted to gaze at it, the startling black-hole like quality of the circle in the midst of a riot of color, light and openness, causes the viewer to reflect upon the work's larger meaning. The hole conveys a greater sense of absence than the entire empty room. Paradoxically, the room feels more 'full' given the presence of a hole as its central focus, although the viewer is prompted to reflect upon absence at the sight of the hole. A single bit of absence and darkness is more attention-grabbing than light.

A more coolly modernist-appearing 2003 installation by Heizer, also involving black geometric shapes, is a nameless work where a large circle, then a rectangle, followed by another rectangle and circle are all cut deeply into a while floor.The room is white, and filled with windows, unlike the sharper yellow brick contrast of North, East, South, West. The perception of depth of these cut images is much greater than the hole of North, almost as cavernous as some of Heizer's land art pieces in relation to the confined interior. Yet the artist's use of depth and light convey an appearance of openness in the room. Heizer's skillful use of space in his installation works demonstrates how installation and land art can deploy artistic and psychological concepts to manipulate the viewer's sensibilities -- in Heizer's case, to make the viewer feel smaller and lonelier, even within a room, in relation to the overwhelming textures, gullies, and hues of the space.

Works Cited

"Biography." Michael Heizer, November 2, 2009.

http://doublenegative.tarasen.net/heizer.html

Heizer, Michael. North, East, South, West. Art Net. November 2, 2009.

http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/boettger/boettger6-3-13.asp

Heizer, Michael. Untitled image. 2003. November 2, 2009.

http://www.ntcu.edu.tw/chihling/top/chinese/pict/thought/2003/die_beacon/heizer-exhibs_b-top.jpg

"Biography," Michael Heizer, http://doublenegative.tarasen.net/heizer.html [November 2, 2009].....