Double Negative (artwork)
Encyclopedia
Double Negative is a piece of land art
located in the Moapa Valley
on Mormon Mesa (or Virgin River Mesa) near Overton
, Nevada
. Double Negative was completed in 1969 by the artist Michael Heizer
.
The work consists of a long trench in the earth, 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, 50 feet (15.2 m) deep, and 1500 feet (457.2 m) long, created by the displacement of 240,000 tons of earth. Two trenches straddle either side of a natural canyon (into which the excavated material was dumped). The "negative" in the title thus refers in part to both the natural and man-made negative space
that constitutes the work. The work essentially consists of what is not there, what has been displaced.
The work is currently owned by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
(MOCA) and is accessible by four-wheel drive
vehicle or motorcycle.
Land art
Land art, Earthworks , or Earth art is an art movement which emerged in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked...
located in the Moapa Valley
Moapa Valley, Nevada
Moapa Valley is an unincorporated town in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The valley in which the community lies, also named Moapa Valley, is about long and lies roughly northwest to southeast.-Geography:...
on Mormon Mesa (or Virgin River Mesa) near Overton
Overton, Nevada
Overton is an Unincorporated Town located in Clark County, Nevada. The town is on the north end of Lake Mead. The town is home to Perkins Field airport and Echo Bay Airport....
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. Double Negative was completed in 1969 by the artist Michael Heizer
Michael Heizer
Michael Heizer is a contemporary artist specializing primarily in large-scale sculptures and earth art .Heizer was born in Berkeley, California in 1944; and he attended the San Francisco Art Institute. Traveling to New York City in 1966, he began his career producing more conventional, small-scale...
.
The work consists of a long trench in the earth, 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, 50 feet (15.2 m) deep, and 1500 feet (457.2 m) long, created by the displacement of 240,000 tons of earth. Two trenches straddle either side of a natural canyon (into which the excavated material was dumped). The "negative" in the title thus refers in part to both the natural and man-made negative space
Negative space
Negative space, in art, is the space around and between the subject of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, and not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and such space is occasionally used to artistic effect as the "real"...
that constitutes the work. The work essentially consists of what is not there, what has been displaced.
The work is currently owned by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is a contemporary art museum with three locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near Walt Disney Concert Hall...
(MOCA) and is accessible by four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
vehicle or motorcycle.