A work of art when placed in a gallery loses its charge, and becomes a portable object or surface disengaged from the outside world.

Quote by Robert Smithson

Topics: Robert Smithson Quotes

Painting, sculpture and architecture are finished, but the art habit continues.

Painting, sculpture and architecture are finished, but the art habit continues.

Questions about form seem as hopelessly inadequate as questions about content.

Questions about form seem as hopelessly inadequate as questions about content.

Language operates between literal and metaphorical signification.

Language operates between literal and metaphorical signification.

Words for mental processes are all derived from physical things.

Words for mental processes are all derived from physical things.

Nature does not proceed in a straight line, it is rather a sprawling development.

Nature does not proceed in a straight line, it is rather a sprawling development.

History is a facsimile of events held together by finally biographical information.

History is a facsimile of events held together by finally biographical information.

The scenic ideals that surround even our national parks are carriers of a nostalgia for...

The scenic ideals that surround even our national parks are carriers of a nostalgia for...

The museums and parks are graveyards above the ground- congealed memories of the past that...

The museums and parks are graveyards above the ground- congealed memories of the past that...

Visiting a museum is a matter of going from void to void.

Visiting a museum is a matter of going from void to void.

Language should be an ever developing procedure and not an isolated occurrence.

Language should be an ever developing procedure and not an isolated occurrence.

Artists are expected to fit into fraudulent categories.

Artists are expected to fit into fraudulent categories.

Objects in a park suggest static repose rather than any ongoing dialectic. Parks are finished...

Objects in a park suggest static repose rather than any ongoing dialectic. Parks are finished...

Mistakes and dead-ends often mean more to these artists than any proven problem.

Mistakes and dead-ends often mean more to these artists than any proven problem.

A vacant white room with lights is still a submission to the neutral. Works of...

A vacant white room with lights is still a submission to the neutral. Works of...

Parks are idealizations of nature, but nature in fact is not a condition of the...

Parks are idealizations of nature, but nature in fact is not a condition of the...

Art history is less explosive than the rest of history, so it sinks faster into...

Art history is less explosive than the rest of history, so it sinks faster into...

I am for an art that takes into account the direct effect of the elements...

I am for an art that takes into account the direct effect of the elements...

Abstraction is everybody's zero but nobody's nought.

Abstraction is everybody's zero but nobody's nought.

Language thus becomes monumental because of the mutations of advertising.

Language thus becomes monumental because of the mutations of advertising.

The museum spreads its surfaces everywhere, and becomes an untitled collection of generalizations that mobilize...

The museum spreads its surfaces everywhere, and becomes an untitled collection of generalizations that mobilize...