Stone circle

The art of Richard Long, who studied at the West of England College of Art in Bristol (1962–65) and St Martin’s School of Art, London (1966–68), is at once simple and complex, reliant on seemingly modest actions or gestures. At its core is the artist’s contact with nature, experienced through walking, hiking and sleeping, with his practice evolving as a direct response to the landscapes in which he spent time. Long’s work is presented according to three distinct modes: ephemeral sculptures in remote locations created by ‘lifting, placing, carrying, throwing, marking’ materials such as stones, grass and wood; sculptures made specifically for museum spaces; and photography and text work documenting his landscape interventions.

Long made his first stone circle while walking in the Andes in 1972 and has since made similar works in places as diverse as Japan, Malawi, Alaska and Ireland. His account of his attraction to the form underscores its universality: ‘A circle, a line: they look good, they are abstract, they are common knowledge. They belong to everyone and equally to the past, the present and the future’ (1982). Developed for a museum context, this work comprises 134 stones of Cornish slate, sourced from a quarry and exhibited in a five-metre diameter directly onto a gallery floor. The pieces of chromatically similar stone are closely spaced but do not touch.

The work caused some confusion on its arrival in Australia, with the customs authorities debating whether the stones were art. This tension of the ‘artlessness’ of the work is encouraged by Long, who describes his sculptures as ‘about real stones, real time, real actions’, and rejects the label ‘conceptual’ to describe his practice. 

Maria Zagala, Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs