Richard Long, A line made by Walking

Richard Long has a very unique way of working which I haven't seen before. We were shown a video in class showing an example of Richard Long's "A line By Walking" work. The man in the video we watched was called Dr James Fox, he drew a straight line on a map in which he tried to accurately walk to try and replicate Richard's work. It was a little harder than he thought as he had to climb over a lot of obstacles and avoid cold ponds. He ended up in the middle of some woods and he felt very underwhelmed with the whole experience, just like I was watching it.

This is a screen grab from when James Fox first starts out his attempt

A Line Made by Walking 1967

This image shows an example of his work. He would walk back and forth following the same line until the grass was flat and catching the light of the sun. For me, I don't quite see what he achieves by doing this apart from getting exercise. He explained it as sketching the portrait of the country but Im not sure if this is what he achieves. It sounds like an interesting way of making art but I dont think it is as effective as it could've been. Maybe I'm not grasping the concept of the idea behind it fully.

Personally Im not a fan of temporary art as Id like to have something to show for my efforts. I feel like if this wasn't photographed then it would just be word of mouth that this work actually existed.

This is more regarded as a performance piece which I haven't had any experience with, this is probably the main factor behind why this work doesn't appeal to me. I feel like I should somehow give performance art a chance in some way so that I can connect to this kind of work more. The one thing that I think is great about this particular work is that anyone can do it, its something we do every day, only he has taken it and made it into something else.

Sources https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdgN7zizaEk
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/long-a-line-made-by-walking-p07149

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