Agnes Denes

Agnes Denes was born in Budapest, Hungry. Along with her parents she survived the Nazi occupation of Hungry. She was also raised in Sweden and the United States. Currently Denes is based out of New York City. Denes started her art career as a painter at New York School and Columbia University. The canvas became to constraining, so Denes moved on to other mediums.

Denes is a pioneer in land art. She is most famous for her work “Wheatfield, a Confrontation 1982.”  It was created during a six month period in Battery Park City Landfill, Manhattan. Denes planted and harvested wheat near Wall Street and the World Trade Center. The piece was about the “mismanagement, the use of the land, the misuse of the land, and world hunger.” 

Another land project Denes did was in Finland. It is protected by the Finish Government for 400 years. In 1996 Denes completed “Tree Mountain- A Living Time Capsule.”  It took place in an old gravel quarry. Volunteers from different countries planted 11,000 trees in a particular pattern. The volunteers were then given a certificate entitling them and the heirs to the care of the trees for 400 years. Art historian Robert Hobbs says that, “In the history of art there have been a few artists’ artists—individuals who have emphasized in their work the raising of provocative questions and who have also tested the limits of art by taking it into new, unforeseen areas and by using it for distinctly new functions. Agnes Denes is one of these special artists.”