Robert Smithson, Island Project (1970)

Graphite on paper

19 x 24 in. (48.3 x 61 cm)

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

graphite drawing of an imagine island landscape

Robert Smithson, Island Project (1970)

Graphite on paper

19 x 24 in. (48.3 x 61 cm)

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

Robert Smithson, Island Project (1970)

Graphite on paper

19 x 24 in. (48.3 x 61 cm)

Installation: Hypothetical Islands at Marian Goodman Gallery, London, 2020

Photograph: Lewis Ronald

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

graphite drawing of an imagined island landscape in a white frame on a white wall

Robert Smithson, Island Project (1970)

Graphite on paper

19 x 24 in. (48.3 x 61 cm)

Installation: Hypothetical Islands at Marian Goodman Gallery, London, 2020

Photograph: Lewis Ronald

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

Robert Smithson, Island Project (1970)

Graphite on paper

19 x 24 in. (48.3 x 61 cm)

Installation: Hypothetical Islands at Marian Goodman Gallery, London, 2020

Photograph: Lewis Ronald

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

graphite drawing of an imagined island landscape in a white frame on a white wall

Robert Smithson, Island Project (1970)

Graphite on paper

19 x 24 in. (48.3 x 61 cm)

Installation: Hypothetical Islands at Marian Goodman Gallery, London, 2020

Photograph: Lewis Ronald

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

Robert Smithson, Island Project (detail) (1970)

Graphite on paper

19 x 24 in. (48.3 x 61 cm)

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

graphite drawing of an imagined island landscape

Robert Smithson, Island Project (detail) (1970)

Graphite on paper

19 x 24 in. (48.3 x 61 cm)

© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

1969—1970

Island Project

Robert Smithson
1970
Graphite on paper
19 x 24 in. (48.3 x 61 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York

In this intricate and energetic graphite drawing Smithson is inventing a fantastical landscape—melding his interest in islands and island-building events with his fondness for industrial landscapes. The resulting landscape invites the viewer to imagine themselves moving through the drawn pathways and tunnels, which more often to lead to disorientation than a final destination. Island Project illustrates Smithson's desire to create collaborations between industry and art to reclaim and shape landscape. 

My own experience is that the best sites for 'earth art' are sites that have been devastated by industry, reckless urbanization, or nature’s worn devastation.

Robert Smithson

“Frederick Law Olmsted and The Dialectial Landscape”, 1973 in Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings, ed. Jack Flam (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996), p165.

See Also