"Three or four stones in one firing will all react differently. I try to achieve a balance between those that haven't progressed enough and those about to go too far"
About this Quote
Goldsworthy turns a kiln-load of stones into a miniature society: same heat, same duration, wildly different outcomes. The line is deceptively practical - a studio note about firing - but it also reads like a manifesto for his larger project as a land artist who collaborates with weather, gravity, and time rather than pretending to dominate them. Nature won’t give you uniformity, and Goldsworthy doesn’t chase it. He choreographs around it.
The key move is his refusal of the “perfect” stone. Instead of selecting only the winners, he aims for a lived-in equilibrium between underdone and nearly ruined. That’s a quietly radical aesthetic in a culture trained to optimize: to standardize materials, streamline process, and erase variance as “error.” Goldsworthy treats variance as the real medium. The kiln becomes a reminder that transformation isn’t linear; it’s contingent, uneven, and sometimes unfair.
There’s subtext, too, about risk. “About to go too far” is where his work often lives - on the edge of collapse, melt, fracture, tide. The tension is the point. He wants the viewer to sense the cost of change, not just admire a stable object. In context, this fits an artist whose practice is built on ephemerality: snow lines that vanish, stacked stones that will fall, leaves stitched into patterns that will decay. The “balance” he’s after isn’t harmony as calm; it’s harmony as a managed brink, where process remains visible and failure is kept close enough to make the success feel earned.
The key move is his refusal of the “perfect” stone. Instead of selecting only the winners, he aims for a lived-in equilibrium between underdone and nearly ruined. That’s a quietly radical aesthetic in a culture trained to optimize: to standardize materials, streamline process, and erase variance as “error.” Goldsworthy treats variance as the real medium. The kiln becomes a reminder that transformation isn’t linear; it’s contingent, uneven, and sometimes unfair.
There’s subtext, too, about risk. “About to go too far” is where his work often lives - on the edge of collapse, melt, fracture, tide. The tension is the point. He wants the viewer to sense the cost of change, not just admire a stable object. In context, this fits an artist whose practice is built on ephemerality: snow lines that vanish, stacked stones that will fall, leaves stitched into patterns that will decay. The “balance” he’s after isn’t harmony as calm; it’s harmony as a managed brink, where process remains visible and failure is kept close enough to make the success feel earned.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
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