Erin Hogan hit the road in her Volkswagen Jetta and headed west from Chicago in search of the monuments of American land art: a salty coil of rocks; four hundred stainless steel poles; a gash in a mesa; four concrete tubes; and military sheds filled with cubes. Her journey took her through the states of Utah; Nevada; New Mexico; Arizona; and Texas. It also took her through the states of anxiety; drunkenness; disorientation; and heat exhaustion. Spiral Jetta is a chronicle of this journey.A lapsed art historian and devoted urbanite; Hogan initially sought firsthand experience of the monumental earthworks of the 1970s and the 1980smdash;Robert Smithsonrsquo;s Spiral Jetty; Nancy Holtrsquo;s Sun Tunnels; Walter De Mariarsquo;s Lightning Field; James Turrellrsquo;s Roden Crater; Michael Heizerrsquo;s Double Negative; and the contemporary art mecca of Marfa; Texas. Armed with spotty directions; no compass; and less-than-desert-appropriate clothing; she found most of what she was looking for and then some.ldquo;I was never quite sure what Hogan was looking for when she set out . . . or indeed whether she found it. But I loved the ride. In Spiral Jetta; an unashamedly honest; slyly uproarious; ever-probing book; art doesnrsquo;t magically have the power to change lives; but it can; perhaps no less powerfully; change ways of seeing.rdquo;mdash;Tom Vanderbilt; New York Times Book Reviewldquo;The reader emerges enlightened and even delighted. . . . Casually scrutinizing the artistic works . . . while gamely playing up her fish-out-of-water status; Hogan delivers an ingeniously engaging travelogue-cum-art history.rdquo;mdash;Atlanticldquo;Smart and unexpectedly hilarious.rdquo;mdash;Kevin Nance; Chicago Sun-Timesldquo;One of the funniest and most entertaining road trips to be published in quite some time.rdquo;mdash;June Sawyers; Chicago Tribuneldquo;Hogan ruminates on how the work affects our sense of time; space; size; and scale. She is at her best when she reexamines the precepts of modernism in the changing light of New Mexico; and shows how the human body is meant to be a participant in these grand constructions.rdquo;mdash;New Yorker
#2954561 in eBooks 2012-08-24 2012-09-18File Name: B00CUVOUEY
Review
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful. the waltons;By Sherry BastowI have so much enjoyed reading the book. couldnt put it down. if you purchase this book you will love ; just has much I did.