Michael Heizer

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Michael Heizer is a contemporary artist specializing primarily in large-scale sculptures and earth art (or land art).

Heizer was born in Berkeley, California in 1944; he began his career producing more conventional, small-scale paintings and sculptures. In the late 1960s, however, Heizer left New York City for the deserts of California and Nevada, where he began to produce larger-scale works that could not fit into a museum setting, except perhaps in photographs. This culminated in the production of Double Negative, a 1500-ft trench Heizer cut into the side of a mesa in the Nevada desert.

Since then, Heizer has continued his exploration of earthworks, with his efforts directed primarily toward City, an enormous complex in the rural desert of Lincoln County, Nevada. He has also produced a number of abstract paintings, and his large-scale sculptures, often inspired by Native American forms, can be found in museums and public spaces worldwide.

Since the late 1990s, Heizer's work has focused primarily on City, and his work continues to this day, supported by the Dia Art Foundation through a grant from the Lannan Foundation. City is not yet available to the public.