A new meaning to ‘landscape art’

Andrew Rogers’s sculptures are so enormous that they’re best viewed from the air. He has created 48 supersized works that cover hillsides and deserts in 13 countries. So why have you never heard of him?

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Andrew Rogers's "Sacred" uses marble to create a horse symbol modeled on a 2,000-year-old coin that was found near the Spissky castle in Slovakia. The Australian former businessman has been doing some of the largest artworks in the world in 13 countries. His message is "that we are all connected through time and space."

"Shield," in Chyulu Hills, Kenya. A 1,270-strong workforce created a giant lion's paw, a traditional shield and "Rhythms of Life" stone structures for the project. Rogers frequently hires locals to build his art, stone by stone, sometimes taking years. "All the horizontal structures which comprise most of my work mainly comprise the dry stone wall technique with no strong permanent binding materials. The reason for this is so that over time (and this is already happening) the walls collapse and the materials that comprise the walls from the local are absorbed back into the landscape," he says.

The Maasai workforce in Kenya building "Shield." Although Rogers has been interested in art all his life, the Melbourne resident had a successful career running an apparel company and even taught logistics at a local university, expertise that came in handy when organizing projects involving hundreds of workers in sparse landscapes.

The horse in "The Gift," in the scenic region of Cappadocia, Turkey, derives from a 6,000-year-old local ancient rock carving. Horses have always been significant in the area, and Rogers uses the indigenous culture when planning his images.

Andrew Rogers, center, stands among local people of Cappadocia to move rocks by hand up to the site of the "Gift" sculpture. Rogers, 65, left the business world after a life-changing trip to Peru in 1979 to see the Nazca Lines.

"Lion's Paw," in Kenya. When Rogers hires locals for his art, he insists on giving women the same wages as men and provides water and first-aid stations on-site.

"Rhythms of Life" uses local gravel -- left over from a glacier -- on a frozen lake at the foot of the Dakshin Gangotri Glacier in Antarctica. This 47th structure is the final link in the chain of a connected series of drawings. The work has by now vanished into time.

"The Messenger," in China's Gobi Desert, replicates a drawing found near the geoglyphs in the tomb of an emperor of the Wei-Jin Dynasty dating from A.D. 220-265. Reception to Rogers's art has been mixed, with some critics calling it "cliched" and without "soul or innovation." Rogers points out that many of these critics have never visited his land art.

/ Copyright Andrew Rogers

Some of the 1,000 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army who built "The Messenger."

"Celebration of Life," in Israel. One Sydney art critic calls Rogers Australia's most successful living sculptor but views him as having taken advantage of his wealth to achieve prominence for his work.

"The Ancients," in Atacama Desert, Chile. Its stone walls are almost 4,000 feet long and are made of volcanic rock and clay.

"Ancient Language" in Chile. John Reid of the Environmental Art Studio of Australian National University in Canberra says of Rogers: "There is, for me, something disconcerting about his Rhythm of Life project.... Each geoglyph is presumably of deep significance to the locals ... but unsettling for everyone else witih a discerning eye for fine art, a jarring intrusion on the mesmerizing pleasure of moving ... through a landscape." Rogers says: "The great majority of my installations are ephemeral and constructed with stones from the surrounding area."

"A Day On Earth," in Turkey. William Fox, a leading authority on art and the environment, says Rogers does not receive attention from the art world because he does not push sculptural forms or use innovative technology. But Rogers has employed 6,700 people to build his works.

"Labyrinth -- Winding Path," a labyrinth in the Kaligandaki Gorge, the deepest on Earth, in Jomsom, Nepal.

"Winding Path," in Basel, Switzerland. Andrew Rogers is a global artist; perhaps he's quixotic, as some critics say. But he seems unfazed and has no intention of slowing down to spread his message of connectedness.

Andrew Rogers / Andrew Rogers

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