An Artist’s practice refers to both the conceptual and making processes of an artwork or series of artworks. It examines how the artist develops ideas and themes through the influence of their society and fellow contemporaries.
One artist that particularly inspires me is Robert Smithson. His practice involves the concept of entropy and irreversibility through Land Art. Smithson, being the driving force behind the introduction of the movement, ‘reinvented the Stone-Age’ (Jones, 2015) through expressing his personal interests in Geology and Minerology. In one his most famous essays Entropy and The New Monuments (1969), Smithson’s core idea was that of the Law of Thermodynamics. A law that predicts the eventual exhaustion of any given system, be it a natural life cycle/ecosystem or a building. He spookily referred this theory as similar to our society, suggesting the eventual collapse of it, resulting in war and other social/political issues.

Much like Smithson, I would like to develop a practice that involves the subject of entropy, history. Land Art/sculpture holds some interest to me but I would like to look into irreversibility in terms of painting and drawing. Looking into the process and age-old traditions of paint and turning it on its head slightly, celebrating the spirit of the modern artist rituals. Perhaps taking Destructivist view on my work in a painting context. Gerhard Richter for example is a painter that looks at a similar theme to this within his practice, layering paint over paint, scraping away and re-painting. Making arguably unchangeable decisions constantly within a painting. Creating history and encapsulating time in a painting.
Jones, J. (2015) Robert Smithson: the epic life of an American enigma, the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/nov/18/robert-smithson-american-enigma-spiral-jetty-pop-new-york (Accessed: 27 November 2017).