Outdoor art : extraordinary sculpture parks and art in nature /

This beautifully illustrated volume focuses on 25 themed private sculpture parks around the world owned by individuals who are artists or art collectors. Examined in light of the visionary, often eccentric personalities who created these highly original parks, the art becomes a unique biography of each owner's intentions and latest art world trend. Art parks have evolved way beyond installations of traditional sculpture in gardens as simple adornment and build on and expand ideas of the 1960s Earth art movement, in which art was moved out of the white cube of galleries into nature. An essential component was and still is that the landscape and the work of art become inextricably linked. Scale is increasingly monumental, creating the necessity of moving beyond the confining walls of the museum. Many of the works are by movers and shakers in the contemporary art world, such as Louise Bourgeois, Dan Graham, Michael Heizer, Anish Kapoor, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Andy Goldsworthy, Doug Aitken, and Olafur Eliasson. A list of addresses and visitor information, a bibliography, and sources are included, though an index of artists' works, which would have been useful, is not. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. --Judy Natal, Columbia College Chicago

Art historian, writer, and collector -Langen's book comprises various outdoor installations from around the world that the author documented over a two-year period. It explores the reasons art in nature is popular and why private collectors create such spaces. There is a concise representation of 25 private sculptures and landscapes ranging from the United States to New Zealand. Many of the works are located in deserts, forests, mountainous regions, and a few on the ocean floor. As museums and related organizations are unable to procure outdoor pieces of the magnitude presented here, primarily owing to the cost of urban real estate, private collectors are becoming key curators of outdoor art and in many cases utilizing land they own to showcase pieces. The structures are immobile and typically not for sale, creating closer contact between client and artist. The overriding attempt is to build areas that display sculpture and art that blends with or highlights environmental features in a balanced way. VERDICT Any art lover would appreciate Langen's work, but this title is more for general enthusiasts of landscape design, sculpture, and unconventional displays of art.-Gary Medina, Marymount California Univ. Lib. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.