Reading Report | At the Radical Edge of Life by Andrew Brown

Andrew Browns ‘Art & Ecology Now’ text explores how contemporary artists are viewing nature and how their work perceives the world around us. The text aims to represent a variety of different artists who all share this same interest and passion, from independent artists reviewing nature, to activists expressing their views. The images down the sides of the pages really enables you to see so many different perspectives and what they think of nature, or what it means to them.

As nature is so broad it comes as no surprise that the work it helps inspire would be too. The pieces we see are all very unique and personal, there are paintings, drawings, sculptures, photography, instillation etc. I am particularly interested in when Brown discusses how the environment has always inspired artwork throughout history. Even from cave paintings by early humanity who gave the environment and the objects around them symbolic meanings in their work. The success and survival of their tribes and families relied on their knowledge of the animals around them. In addition, they were also a celebration of the supernatural elements they believed in, which they also drew to make sure they were aware and cautious of. I find it so interesting how   art based on nature originated and has transformed over the years, but also now with these original paintings and drawings they a probably the closest to nature as you could get. Brown continues to discuss this; "But these images represent another form of reliance on nature, too (one that continues up to the present), for they were made with the very stuff of the physical world". This is believed to be important because it sets the stage for nature inspired artwork. How the origin of environmental based work are so in-depth they use pigments from the earth such as, ochre, haematite and charcoal. 

In addition, these early view of nature reveals a really important fact about what these people considered ‘important’ for their reality. When we view nature many of us may make very different opinions as to what we considered ‘important’. This could be the view of the landscapes, farming, climate change, saving animals, or possibly nothing at all. However from these pictures of cave paintings that Brown presents us he discusses how there is noting around in terms of landscape, the focus is on the animals and the hunt. There main focus would be staying alive and providing for the people around them, and due to the surrounds they probably did not have a lot of time to appreciate the environment around them. This sets our modern way of life apart from these ancestors, as we have the privilege to appreciate the world we have and what it provides, or ignore it all together (as much and as realistically as you can).

This brings me to a point that Brown has allowed me to come to, and that is the progression and evolution of nature and the art the comes from it can be effected by the environment around us. What we choose to see and accept is truly down to the position we are in, in terms of danger, location, conditions etc. Our whole moods, views and overall feeling about life can be changed and moulded by the intensity or calmness of the environment around us. The comparison between these original cave paintings and the modern work we get today are proof of this. Back then was more about survival, now we are shown a wide variety of views and expressions, from activism to the natural beauty.