Who were the In Situ painters and how did they challenge the boundaries of site-specific art?

In Situ painters were a group of artists who emerged in the 1960s and 1970s and challenged the traditional boundaries of art by creating site-specific works. These artists rejected the idea of art as an object that could be bought and sold, and instead sought to create works that were integrated into their surroundings, often using the natural environment as their canvas.

One of the key figures in the In Situ movement was Robert Smithson, who is perhaps best known for his work 'Spiral Jetty'. Located in Utah's Great Salt Lake, this massive land art piece was created by moving rocks and earth to form a 1,500-foot-long spiral that extends into the lake. Smithson saw his work as an exploration of the relationship between art and nature, and sought to create a work that was both a part of its surroundings and transformative of them.

Another prominent In Situ painter was Richard Long, who created works that were often ephemeral and impermanent. Long's pieces would often involve walking through a landscape and arranging natural materials into patterns or structures, which would then be left to gradually erode or decompose. By creating works that were meant to be experienced rather than owned, Long and other In Situ painters challenged the commodification of art and offered a new vision of what art could be.