Artwork measures 26 x 33.5 inches (66 x 85.1 cm) and is framed.

This untitled drawing articulates a shaft deep in the earth from multiple vantage points, providing a rare insight into Land Artist Michael Heizer's creative process. The drawing was made in 1969, the year that Heizer began his monumental earthwork "Double Negative" near Overton, Nevada. Facilitated by gallerist Virginia Dwan, the piece involved moving over 240,000 tons of rock to form two long trenches in the earth.

Michael Heizer (b. 1944) is a contemporary American artist known for his monumental earthworks. After studying briefly at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1963-1964, Heizer moved to New York before eventually establishing himself in the deserts of Nevada and California. This remoteness from the mainstream art world proved an ideal environment in which to produce “land art,” or “earth art," as he termed it. Heizer’s installations in nature have required the movement of 50-ton granite slabs or the digging of enormous holes. One piece in the Nevada desert made use of an over-sized boulder elevated over a 456-foot-long trench, with the intention of instilling in the viewer a sense of levitation. Heizer’s works have been displayed in over seventy-five solo and group exhibitions, including shows at the Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV (2011); the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2009); and Pace Gallery, New York, NY (2006).

Selected Public Collections:
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV