Michael Heizer Quotes

United States, Artist
1944

Michael Heizer is a contemporary artist specializing in large-scale and site-specific sculptures. Working largely outside the confines of the traditional art spaces of galleries and museums, Heizer has redefined sculpture in terms of size, mass, gesture, and process. A pioneer of 20th century Land Art, he is widely recognized for sculptures and earthworks made with earth-moving equipment, which he began creating in the American West in 1967. He currently lives and works in Hiko, Nevada and New York City.

The type of work I like is pure and simple and profound.

Michael Heizer
- Work
- Profound
- Pure
Frank Gehry for instance likes to imagine his buildings as sculptures. I like to imagine my sculptures as architectural.

Michael Heizer

Landscape to me is a planar thing, just a view. Environment is everything down to the ecosystem. Big difference.

Michael Heizer
I wasn't political enough to write articles about myself or go to cocktail parties, meaning that not only has my art been pirated and my intellectual property rights stolen, but my work has been misrepresented.

Michael Heizer
I make static art, not dynamic art. That's what I do.

Michael Heizer
- Art
- Dynamic
- Static
A strong work of art really leaves people speechless. They feel a little angry because they don't understand it.

Michael Heizer
- Strong
- Understand
- Angry
They are works of art that can be considered works of art but don't have to be in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum.

Michael Heizer
- Art
- Works
- Considered
Earth is the material with the most potential because it is the original source material.

Michael Heizer
- Earth
- Potential
- Material

I think size is the most unused quotient in the sculptor's repertoire because it requires lots of commitment and time. To me it's the best tool. With size you get space and atmosphere: atmosphere becomes volume. You stand in the shape, in the zone.

Michael Heizer
I’m self-entertaining. My dialogue is with myself.

Michael Heizer