A Line Made by Walking - words after the fact.
The work originated through intuition.
After it was made I realised it could be the beginning of a journey - a life line.
In the next straight walk I made, the line in the grass became a line drawn on a map.
I had the idea before I arrived at the place. I took a stopping train going south west out of London with no destination in mind. I got off at the first station in the first real countryside the train was passing through and found a suitable field easily and by chance.
The fact that over the subsequent years I have walked in straight lines for other reasons, over different distances, in different landscapes around the world, gives that work a real significance to a point of view which I have followed all my life.
Also at that time I was realising that to engage with the reality and space of landscape was the most satisfying and ambitious - physically and intellectually - way I could choose to make art.
Nature, the diversity of places, natural and cosmic phenomena, natural materials, movement, time and distance were to become my subject matter.
Richard Long, 2015.
Browse Richard Long's artwork on Artimage
Over 100 images by Richard Long are available to license from Artimage. Spanning six decades of his practice, the collection includes A Line Made by Walking, in addition to related works based on the walks he has documented in natural settings around the world. It also includes a range of text-based artworks as well as sculptures made from natural materials. Browse images.
Richard Long: Time and Space opens at the Arnolfini in Bristol on 31 July until 15 November 2015.
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Image credit: A Line Made By Walking, 1967, Richard Long © Richard Long. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015. Photo: Richard Long. Request this image.