The ruins of an old oil rig jetty just to the south offer an interesting contrast between the products of industry and those of art, however frequently they share the same tools. Smithson was able to build Spiral Jetty with a $9,000 grant from the Virginia Dwan Gallery, which he used to hire a bulldozer, dump trucks, and other equipment operated by a local contractor named Bob Phillips. The Jetty was partially submerged, but visible during my visit. An old oil rig jetty lies less than a mile south of Spiral Jetty and, in partnership with its more elegant neighbor, calls to mind the natural processes in which Smithson delighted. A pink, salt-loving algae has thrived in the bay ever since. The bay was cut off from the fresh water of the surrounding river systems when the Southern Pacific Railroad built a causeway across the lake in 1959, causing its salinity to spike dramatically. Stranger still is the vividly pink water of Gunnison Bay, the northern portion of the Great Salt Lake where Smithson built Spiral Jetty in 1970. The arid landscape is oddly alien, dotted with dark boulders of basalt and parched scrub. The gravel roads to Spiral Jetty are well-maintained and easily passable in a regular passenger vehicle. If you ever decide to visit the site, don’ be put off by the Dia Foundation’s driving directions warning you to bring an off-road vehicle.
Spiral jetty photos free#
On a recent trip to Utah, I had a free day to visit Robert Smithson’s masterwork of land art, Spiral Jetty.
Photo: Jason StieberĬollecting trips keep me pretty busy, but every now and again, I get the opportunity to have an unplanned adventure. Built in six days in 1970 by the artist Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty is often completely submerged, revealing itself during times of drought. Our intrepid collector, Jason Stieber, stops off in Utah to visit Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty.
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