Art in the icy wilderness

Press, 1 August 1989, Page 25

Art in the icy wilderness

By

MARTIN BAILEY

A British artist and his two Eskimo assistants have become the world’s first polar sculptors. Working in temperatures as low as minus 45 degrees Celsius at a time when the sun never sets, Andy Goldsworthy has just returned home after constructing an ice sculpture at the North Pole.

The 32-year-old artist, from Penpont, near Dumfries, is accustomed to difficult conditions. At home, Goldsworthy uses natural materials, such as leaves or twigs, in their natural environment to create his own delicate structures. He then photographs the work before it is destroyed by the elements. His polar adventure began at Grice Fiord, the most northern Innuit.settlement in Canada. Set on the rocky coast of Ellesmere Island, the bare mountains above Grice Fiord sustain polar bears, white foxes and muskoxen. ■

In June, Goldsworthy went there ‘to acclimatise for the, assault 'on the pole. Working with his bemused Innuit assistants, he constructed a series of sculptures in the icy wilderness. Then two of the Innuit villagers joined Goldsworthy for trip to the Norp Pole in a

chartered aircraft They worked for four days on their sculpture, photographing it before they left Goldsworthy refuses to reveal details of his creation until the photographs are unveiled at London’s Anne Berthoud Gallery. But it is sure to be more of a delicate abstract design than a figurative snowman. Although the Arctic sculpture will last longer than Goldsworthy’s British work, it will not stay at the North Pole. The shifting pack-ice is already moving his sculpture south. Copyright London Observer.