September 2019
This essay is about James Crump's 2016 group biopic documentary. I argue that the film glorifies the three main male subjects (Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, and Walter De Maria), and in doing so totally leaves out crucial aspects of the history of land art. I talk about art historical specifity, a complete lack of critique, “bad boy aesthetics", the erasure of women (especially Ana Medieta), and the tone deaf reinscription of centuries of colonial violence.
Written for Johanna Gosse's Contemporary Art.
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