Alan Sonfist

*1946 in New York City, USA
lives in New York City, USA

Alan Sonfist is a painter, photographer and Land Art artist and is considered one of the pioneers of the Earth Art movement. After growing up in the South Bronx of NYC near Hemlock Forest, which later became a major inspiration for his art, Sonfist attended Hunter College, where he received a master’s degree in art. His early work in the 1960s and 1970s helped pioneer the burgeoning movement of site-specific sculpture. Today, he continues to promote sustainable energy and strives to raise awareness for global climate change with his international projects. Recently, Sonfist collaborated with city planners in Pori, Finland and Tampa, Florida to create public spaces that visualize natural landscapes from the past. In addition, he has created a team of specialists to address all of the issues involved in creating a functional ecological landscape that will naturally adapt to their contemporary urban and suburban environments.

“The basic idea of my work is always the interaction between human and nature. This also in a historical context. We are part of nature, but at the same time we consume and displace it from our immediate living environment, the cities.” (Alan Sonfist, Kunstforum Vol. 146, 1999)