The challenge is always to use materials in a new and different way, and make them convey meaning and portray form in a manner that has not previously been seen.

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Downloadable Article (PDF):   2015-Jan-ArtLA_Magazine

ANDREW ROGERS – GLOBAL AWARENESS
By Daniel Danielson,  ArtLA, January 2015

This world is a cornucopia of many cultures, many landscapes and many peoples. Much of the modern world is familiar to us in its ubiquitous imagery and blanket coverage and the art within it instantly accessible in both the physical and virtual realms. Andrew Rogers has taken a step, well, many steps to be precise, in exploring and exposing some of the more shadowed parts of terra firms, and creating artworks from these landscapes that illuminate the existence, culture and struggle of its inhabitants. Creating the nomenclature, geoglyphs, this Australian artist utilizes his considerable abilities in drawing our attention to the existence of indigenous peoples in a form of art creation that is expressive, unique, and at times simply awe-inspiring.

Humility is a trait that someone Rogers’ stature could be forgiven for frugality in expression. However, the opposite is quite the case with this man as he has journeyed through a myriad of relatively isolated destinations in order to create his geoglyphs, including the Arava Desert, Israel; the Atacama Desert, Chile; the Bolivian Altiplano; Kurunegala, Sri Lanka; Victoria, Australia; the Gobi Desert, China; Akureyri, Iceland; Rajasthan, India; Cappadocia, Turkey; Jomsom and Pokhara in Nepal; Spissky and the High Tatras in Slovakia; the Mojave Desert and Green River in the USA; near the Chyulu Hills in Kenya; Antarctica near the Dakshin Gangotri Glacier; and the Namib Desert in North West Namibia. These geoglyphs range in size up to 40,000 square meters (430,000 sq. ft.). The collective name of these installations is derived from Rogers’ early bronze sculptures; The Rhythms of Life, and has turned out to be the largest contemporary land art undertaking thus far by anyone anywhere. Encompassing 14 countries, and 7,000 people across seven continents, it truly is a global enterprise representing the very rhythm of the life of the planet itself.

The Rhythm of Life extravaganza is designed to magnify the intensity and value of marrying nature’s canvas with the innate desire for artistic expression of Homo Sapiens. With more than a nod of appreciation for The Uffington White Horse (a highly stylized prehistoric hill figure, 361 feet long, formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk) located in Oxfordshire, England, this apparent bronze-age artisan reincarnate beautifully sculptured artworks that encapsulate the statements of God’s paint box with the social and environmental artistic awareness that only artwork of such potent countenance can achieve.

Rogers has now created his geoglyphs on every continent of the globe, and is well known for his incorporation of justice and fairness when using local peoples and tribes in the production of the artwork. Every contributor is rewarded financially, as well as benefitting from the attention that it brings to preserving, and sustaining their cultural heritage. This artist is as fervent to stimulating social commentary, awareness, and conversation as he is to creativity and expanding the boundaries of invention.

Rogers’s genius of statement is also prolific in his bronze and mixed media pieces that have found eye-watering admiration and intense curiosity from thousands of viewers in scores of exhibitions around the world. Sculptures like the polyamide 2013 creation entitled “Molten Concept 15” are stunning studies in complexity appearing simple. This artwork’s sensual motion is a potpourri of the mechanical, the natural, and the technological, fusing these typically isolated ingredients into a singular beauty that commands attention and admiration.

Rogers “Weightless” series celebrates the gravitas of gravity, and each of the artworks in this series most certainly expose this artist’s passion and love for the natural flow of the Earth. Static, yet motive, these sculptures glorify the unseen energy that only the signature of nature’s breeze captures for our senses. Invisible beauty bade tangible; each artwork is a testament to Rogers’ attention to detail in realizing his unbridled imagination that, it appears, is consistently drives his artistic urges to new and old worlds alike.

With global projects, exquisite sculptures, and original utilization of land, one has to ask the question, when will Andrew Rogers team up with Elon Musk and exploit space as the next frontier for art gargantuan?