Land Art: Double Negative, Michael Heizer
Michael Heizer, Double Negative (1969-1970). The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Gift of Virginia Dwan, photo by Tom Vinetz
It would appear as if all the major land artists were American, and maybe that’s not surprising given just how large the country is and how efficient they are at destroying the environment. Michael Heizer’s piece, Double Negative (1969-1970)(like Smithson’s Spiral Jetty) is also a feat of engineering in the middle of a desolate landscape - though in Nevada instead of Utah for a change.
The work, about 90 minutes outside of Overton, consists of two giant trenches dug out of the desert mesa. These trenches are aligned with each other, their continuity split by the gaping hole in the landscape. Like Holt’s Sun Tunnels, the viewer is encouraged to observe the space from a certain vantage point - but instead of the beauty of the environment, Heizer’s piece highlights the abstract: the double negative is a reference not just to the two trenches, but also to the way in which the negative space of both the canyon and the trenches combine to create the illusion of an uninterrupted line. Seen clearly in the photo above, the scale of the piece is better seen from above:
Like Spiral Jetty, this piece also destroys the environment it is in - over 240,000 tons of material were moved to create the gashes in the landscape, so while clearly in the realm of land art, this piece belongs more to the conceptual art world than the ecological. Indeed, the emphasis here is on the play on space and the fact that it could be done on such a grand scale using the natural environment. But there is no reverence for the environment (as in Holt’s work) nor is there any attention drawn to the environment by the work. It is two harsh cuts in the ground that create an unnatural phenomena (the double negative space) in a natural space. It is oddly colonial in that sense. The artist cares only about the environment he destroys insomuch as it serves the purpose of the piece. Indeed, the excavated material from the trenches was simply dumped in the canyon below.
Holt spent years scouting the perfect location for Sun Tunnels. Smithson designed Spiral Jetty to be altered by time and nature and to ultimately be absorbed by it. One struggles to see that kind of care or attention paid in Double Negative. And while Heizer did not want the piece to be maintained in any way, the deep cuts into the landscape are as permanent an etching one could make on the planet. Heizer once asked: “As long as you’re going to make a sculpture, why not make one that competes with a 747, or the Empire State Building, or the Golden Gate Bridge?” And Heizer’s piece does just that - it is stereotypically masculine; violent, enduring, and aggressive.
Heizer’s work remains out of step with the anti-establishment challenges of the land art movement, only really latching on to the anti-gallery and anti-capitalist aspects of it. The piece (and from what I can gather Heizer himself) is out of place with the ecological and feminist leanings of the land art movement.
For a good look, take two minutes to watch an aerial tour of the piece: