Advent Calender - Day 13

This is one of the Andy Goldsworthy Midsummer Snowballs. In this project the sculptor distributed large balls of snow throughout the city of London which melted during the course of the day to reveal the objects within.

In this image childeren wearing their summer clothes interact with the snowballs. This sense of interaction with the work is something that the artist appears to relish in this particular project. Many of the photographs in the fantastically illustrated book on this project demonstrate this interaction by people and animals alike.

These are two further examples of this project.

Snowball next to the old city walls, containing pebbles, thereby echoing the material of the walls by which it stands

This snowball was placed outside old spitalfields market and was constantly moved around by those working there.

Here a buissness-man prods the snowball with his umbrella and you can see the effects of the snow beggining to melt, creating a puddle of water on one side and revealling the objects within.

Snow is a particularly appropriate medium for this artist who works with the transitory and ephemeral elements of nature. This ephemeral nature was brought into sharp focus when set against the pace of London life and within the foreign urban environment.

Check out my other post on Andy Goldsworthy. Two in a week!!: http://articulatelondon.blogspot.com/2011/12/macabees-and-andy-goldsworthy-unlikely.html

For the book go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Midsummer-Snowballs-Andy-Goldsworthy/dp/0500510652/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323768237&sr=1-1