Richard Long has been a strong influence on me as a photographer for about ten years now. His work appeals to me on several levels, among them, the hiker inside me. My favorite pieces of his are any of the lines made by walking. In making these sculptures by walking, he is "echoing the whole history of mankind." Rebecca Solnit devotes some of her book Wanderlust: A History of Walking, a book I highly recommend, to Richard Long's art.
A Line Made By Walking, England 1967
England 1968
His work is as much performance art as it is anything else. Similarly to Andy Goldsworthy, his work lives in the ephemeral, and were it not for a photographic record, or in other instances, text works, there would be no evidence of Long ever having made his sculpture.
Leaving the Stones, A Five Day Walk With Dogs on Spitzbergen, Svalbard Norway 1995
Pujet Sound Mud Circle, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle 1997
Visit Richard's website to view more work.