The artist uses the sand as a canvas for fun, team building or community experiences
“I believe in the power of art and nature to bring balance and inspiration to our lives,” states one of Andres Amador’s webpages. The artist brings geometric artworks to California beaches.
This can be a prelude to a wedding celebration, where the “yes“ question is carved into the beach, or a community event for Earth Day, where those who come together decorate the beach and clean it up at the same time. Sometimes in the invitation to this, it says quite sponti-like that those interested should also bring something to make music with.
For all the actions on the beach, nature sets up the scene perfectly every 6 hours: the stage – Andres Amador speaks of “canvas“ in our mail correspondence – is the sand, which after the tide has gone out is just waiting to be decorated with a transient art for a few hours.
Unlike in real theater or even in a studio, however, the time frame is indispensably predetermined and there is no delay or extension under any circumstances.
Whether he knows consequently stress with his actions, we asked Andres Amador therefore a mail.
“I am always in a hurry!“ he returned with a laugh between the lines, and he gave the reasons for this: the available canvas is, after all, so wonderfully large and there is unlimited material available for creation, that he tends to let the artworks become too detailed…
Then he mentions a few details from the work of a land-art artist with work field beach: one must also consider that tide shifts from day to day approx. 50 minutes; also the way of the sun must he considered, because after sunset the light is not optimal for a photo by dohne any more; and sometimes a rain shower spoils the picture.
However, it seems to be only a small challenge for him to bring the lines with precision on the sand. Beginners help themselves with a grid, which they transfer enlarged on the beach. “This technique is rather dull, and I only use it when I am doing something that absolutely must be done correctly such as a face or specific image,” he writes.
Most of the time, he goes about his work freehand, so to speak.
However, you also have to know what the natural material at a stand is all about: “Because sand is coarse, fine detail is only really possible if the overall work can be very large.“
One could now endlessly discuss the special world of these tiny grains and the design with them.
But we will limit ourselves to the remark that Andres also works with other natural materials at other points of the landscape, and that he also runs the company Elemental Team Arts, which, for example, in addition to wedding preludes for private individuals, also offers teambuilding or marketing activities for companies. This can be commercial or non-commercial.
What else could be said, his photos on the net show better than we could describe it.
(09.06.2023, USA: 06.09.2023)
