The Nevada artwork you can only see by hiking miles into absolutely nowhere

Double Negative (Nevada)

Michael Heizer created Double Negative in 1969 on Mormon Mesa near Overton, Nevada. This massive artwork consists of two huge trenches cut into the mesa edge.

The trenches measure 30 feet wide, 50 feet deep, and span 1,500 feet across a natural canyon. Heizer moved 240,000 tons of rock and earth to create this work, making it one of the first major examples of land art.

When Michael Heizer Shifted From Canvas To Land

Heizer began as a painter but grew tired of traditional art spaces. In 1968, he started making earth-based artworks called Nine Nevada Depressions.

These first projects were shallow cuts in dry lake beds across Nevada. These small works marked his move from gallery art to working with the land.

Double Negative became his first truly ambitious landscape work. Heizer picked a remote location on purpose to challenge the art market by making something too big to collect or display in museums.

Art Dealer Virginia Dwan Finances The Project

Virginia Dwan made Double Negative possible. As a powerful art dealer, she saw value in Heizer’s unusual vision. In 1969, Dwan bought the 60-acre site on Mormon Mesa just for this project.

She spent about $100,000 to buy the land and pay for construction. After finishing the work, Heizer gave the property deeds to Dwan.

Their partnership hit a rough spot in 1971 when Heizer stopped the Dwan Gallery from selling the artwork. He felt strongly that the work should stay in its original setting.

Hiring A Local Contractor With Heavy Equipment

To make his idea real, Heizer needed someone with construction skills and big machines. He found Bryant Robison, a local from Logandale who knew how to use heavy equipment.

Robison used a Caterpillar D8 bulldozer with no protective cover to dig the giant trenches. The dangerous work took about two months. For the hardest parts of the job, Robison brought in three or four extra workers.

They handled explosives and helped operate equipment during the final digging stages. The team worked through harsh desert conditions to meet Heizer’s exact plans.

Blasting Through The Mesa’s Hard Limestone Cap

Mormon Mesa had a tough outer shell. Its surface had a hard limestone layer 5 to 10 feet thick that no bulldozer could break through.

Robison’s crew drilled holes in careful patterns across the marked areas. They filled these holes with dynamite to crack the hard top layer. Under this cap, they found softer sandstone and rhyolite.

Only then could the bulldozer dig out the trenches to their full depth. Robison later called this the most dangerous job of his career. The crew worked without safety gear, often standing under unstable walls of dirt.

Carving Two Matching Trenches Across A Canyon

Heizer planned the trenches with exact measurements. He placed them on a north-south line, cutting across the natural edge of the mesa.

A 900-foot wide canyon already split the area where he wanted to dig. The northern trench runs about 220 feet while the southern one extends 320 feet. Workers dumped all the dug-up rock and dirt right into the canyon between the trenches.

This smart solution meant they didn’t need to haul debris away. The careful placement created a visual link between the man-made cuts and the natural canyon.

Creating A Continuous Visual Line Through Empty Space

The two trenches line up perfectly despite the canyon between them. From certain spots, they look like one long cut through the landscape.

This visual connection is key to the work’s meaning. The trenches and canyon together form one unbroken empty space across the mesa.

The name “Double Negative” refers to this dual absence – the man-made trenches and the natural canyon. Heizer called it “a sculpture that was a negative volume,” asking viewers to see emptiness as a form of art.

Art That Consists Of What Isn’t There

Double Negative flips traditional sculpture on its head. Instead of adding material to make something, Heizer removed earth to create space.

He famously said: “There is nothing there, yet it is still a sculpture.” This puzzle forms the heart of the piece. Most sculptures throughout history build upward with clay, stone, or metal.

Double Negative asks us to think about removal as a creative act. The empty space matters more than the rock that was removed. This idea completely changed what could count as art.

Double Negative Becomes Famous In Art World

The bold scale and new ideas in Double Negative caught immediate attention. Major art magazines and mainstream publications like Esquire and Life featured the work.

Art lovers began making long trips to the remote site. The difficult journey became part of the experience. The project boosted Heizer’s name in the art world.

Critics saw it as a breakthrough in modern sculpture. Double Negative helped establish land art as a serious movement and inspired other artists to create works directly in nature.

Museum Acquires A Hole In The Ground

In 1984, Virginia Dwan gave Double Negative to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The gift came as MOCA was showing “In Context: Michael Heizer, Geometric Extraction.”

This purchase marked a big shift in what museums would collect. MOCA now owned a massive earthwork hundreds of miles from the museum itself. As part of the deal, MOCA promised not to repair or preserve the piece.

Heizer wanted natural forces to slowly change the artwork. This choice challenged normal museum practices about keeping art in perfect condition.

Time And Weather Slowly Transform The Artwork

Over fifty years, wind, rain, and gravity have changed Double Negative. The once-sharp edges of the trenches have worn down. Sand and fallen rocks now partly fill sections of the cuts.

The walls show clear signs of erosion and collapse in many areas. Heizer first said nature should eventually reclaim the land. He viewed this slow breakdown as part of the artwork.

Years later, he showed interest in possibly restoring the piece. This change suggested mixed feelings about letting his work slowly disappear.

Visiting Double Negative

You’ll find Double Negative on Mormon Mesa near Overton, Nevada, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The artwork exists as two massive trenches cut into the mesa edge, aligned across a natural canyon.

The experience centers on walking around and inside the trenches, contemplating the negative space Heizer created in 1969.

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