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Where does one begin when exploring the oeuvre of Robert Smithson? As an autodidact, his interests in travel, cartography, geology, architectural ruins, prehistory, philosophy, religion, science fiction, popular culture and language spiral through his work while, in his practice, he produced paintings, drawings, sculptures, architectural schemes, films, photographs, writings, earthworks and all the stops between. As a result, there are many potential entry points.
I guess I was always interested in origins and primordial beginnings – Robert Smithson
The usual answer, based on an interview Smithson gave in 1972, has been that 1965-66 was a breakthrough period in his art when he emerged as a “conscious artist” having abandoned painting to arrive at an abstract means of expression “devoid of any kind of mythological content”.