Chris Drury / Giant Whirlwind

RENO, NV - British land artist Chris Drury completed a large-scale installation on the dry lakebed of Winnemucca Lake. Located near the boundary of the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation 35 miles northeast of Reno, NV. The Whirlwind is part of Drury’s upcoming exhibition at the Nevada Museum of Art (NMA) titled Chris Drury: Mushrooms | Clouds; the first major museum exhibition in the United States by Drury. Mushrooms | Clouds will be on exhibit from August 9 through October 5, 2008 and also includes new works produced in partnership with the For-Site Foundation in Nevada City, CA and the Desert Research Institute (DRI) in Reno, NV.

Using a 36-inch-wide standard landscaping rake, Drury etched Whirlwind on the alkali surface of Winnemucca Lake near the border of land owned by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and the Bureau of Land Management. The spiral “whirlwind” pattern is 100 yards in diameter and is similar to designs seen in Native American woven baskets. The installation will be photographed and reproduced in large-scale format for inclusion within the exhibition Mushrooms | Clouds. The new work created for Mushrooms | Clouds also refers to the complex legacy—and continued presence—of nuclear activity in the American West.

One of Great Britain’s most prolific and respected artists, Drury explores conceptual issues arising from the interplay between nature and culture. Often associated with the Land Art and/or Earth Art movements, and artists such as Patrick Dougherty, Andy Goldsworthy, and Richard Long, Drury distinguishes his art-making practices through his ongoing commitment to examining the “inner nature” of human consciousness and its relationship to the “outer nature” of the material world.