Crazy Pablo: Spiritual Spiral Jetty

The Spiral - Earth and Water

Made of basalt rocks, salt, and earth, the spiral curls from the edge of the lake into its pinkish waters. It’s not just a shape, it’s a movement. Inward and outward, like breathing or a meditative walk. It draws you in physically, but also spiritually.

The rough desert ground meets the hypersaline lake in a strange, beautiful tension. Sometimes the jetty disappears under water. Other times, it’s sun-scorched and crusted with salt. Nothing here is fixed. Everything depends on weather, time, and patience.

Smithson’s Spiral Jetty isn’t just a sculpture, it’s a meditation. On time and nature, on our desire to leave a mark that lasts, even when nothing really can. You don’t look at this artwork, you walk it. Feel the salt under your shoes. Breathe in the vast emptiness and Hear the silence. It’s a reminder that we’re part of something much bigger: the land, the cosmos, the spiral of life and decay.

Fun Fact

Spiral Jetty was created in 1970 by American artist Robert Smithson at the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. It stretches about 1,500 feet (460 meters) into the lake, made from over 6,000 tons of basalt rocks and earth. At times, the sculpture disappears completely under the water - not due to neglect, but by design. Smithson embraced entropy, change, and natural forces as part of the artwork itself.

He never saw it again. A few years after completing the jetty, Smithson died in a plane crash while surveying another land art site.

How does it relate to the here and now? or What to say during casual conversation to show off your art knowledge?

It's Not Just a Spiral, It's a Portal - “Most people have only seen Spiral Jetty on Instagram or in textbooks. But this artwork isn’t meant to be consumed in pixels. In a hyper-digital world, it invites us to reconnect with the Earth, with time, and maybe even with ourselves.”

You Think You Know It - Until You’re There - “We often think we understand something because we’ve seen images of it, read headlines, or scrolled through takes online. But being there changes everything.”