Erin taylor
ARA 330
2.9.26
When does "expanded arts" expand too far?
As artists, we often find ourselves feeling burdened with the urge to show the world a glimpse into our mindset and worldview. Artists who work in modern/expanded/contemporary art often do this through abstract visual displays, installations, or performance art. While this form of art is still relatively new, it's made an impactful presence in the world of art. Some of the most influential names that practice this form of art are Yayoi Kusama, most notable for her “infinity mirrors room”, Ai Weiwei, Banksy, and Andy Warhol. These artists often push the boundaries of what art can mean by taking up an obnoxious amount of space or forcing provocative and often controversial subjects into the spotlight. But where is the line? When does expanded arts expand too far? With this paper, I intend to call into question the more controversial works of several contemporary artists and offer suggestions on what could have improved their intended message.
When I was a Freshman at ASU in my first semester, I took a class on expanded art, and one of the most memorable works I was ever introduced to from this class was the Sugar Sphinx, a massive installation erected in 2014 by artist Kara Walker. This 75 foot long sugar coated sculpture confronts the long history of slavery that most manual labor businesses have utilized at one point in time. In Walker’s own words,
“A Subtlety
or the Marvelous Sugar Baby
An Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant”(The Sugar sphinx, The New Yorker, 2014).
The installation sat in an abandoned Domino Sugar factory in williamsburg brooklyn until its demolition on July 6th, 2014. Walker forces the viewer to confront America’s dark past through the massive sculpture being a bleached white sugar-coated depiction of a stereotypical “Mammy” character. This depiction follows multiple black woman stereotypes to a tee by presenting the woman naked and hyper sexualized by the model’s cartoonishly exaggerated curves. Walker pushes an overall message of resilience, the worker’s(the sphinx) presence simply taking up space in its purgatory to remind the viewer of the horrors that once were before the factory is reduced to rubble. While I love this installation in all of its glory, presentation, message, and grandeur, I wonder if the message could have been more powerful if the installation had not been created with impermanence, and could have been installed somewhere safe, where it could have moved many more viewers. I love the idea of taking up space and even manipulating the space around you to push your message as an artist, but is there a time when manipulating your surroundings is more damaging than good? I believe that Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty is a prime example of this.
The Spiral Jetty is a land art installation that extends into the Great Salt Lake in Utah, created by artist Robert Smithson for the purpose of exploring his fascination with entropy. The art itself is relatively purposeless, simply taking a plot of land and manipulating it to one’s liking. The issue with land art in particular is that often it involves the alteration of native land and the disruption of an ecosystem. Jason Asenap argues in his article “The Problem with Land Art.” that land art, and the Spiral Jetty specifically, is self-serving, often aiming to rebel against the land instead of celebrating it. This particular type of manipulation is akin to a toddler yelling, “Look what I can do!” after creating a mess. Asenap also points out that, “Land art struck me as a very particular type of white art, hubristic in nature. To create this art, you carve out, dig into, or brand your mark on a parcel of land, driven by a singular vision. It seems like another white man making his mark on the land, on a property.” (The Problem with Land Art, Atla, 2022). I agree with this sentiment, as the Spiral Jetty to me has always seemed like a display of power, an “artist” taking something that doesn’t and should not belong to them, and manipulating it for their own selfish enjoyment. What is the purpose of the Spiral Jetty? If all art is open to interpretation, what can be taken away from this “installation”? I believe that if there is a true meaning or idea that desires to be pushed through the spiral Jetty, there could have been a less disruptive way to execute it, especially when the materials used contribute to the destruction of an already fragile planet.
While I believe that contemporary art is crucial to the continuous and ever-evolving life of art as a whole, I believe that there will always be a better way that a controversial message can be executed, especially when the artist’s true intention is to get their message across to an audience and create discourse.
Works cited
Als, Hilton. “The Sugar Sphinx.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 8 May 2014, www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-sugar-sphinx.
Shapiro, Gary, and Robert Smithson. “Spiral Jetty.” Spiral Jetty | Holt/Smithson Foundation, holtsmithsonfoundation.org/spiral-jetty. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
Asenap, Jason. “The Problem with Land Art.” Atla , Alta , 21 Dec. 2022, www.altaonline.com/culture/art/a42042641/land-art-jason-asenap/.