Sylvain Meyer Transforms Elements of Nature into Beautiful Environmental Art

French artist <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gambastyle/sets/72157601856759781/" target="_blank">Sylvain Meyer</a> is continuing the tradition of Land Art made popular in the 1970s. Using eco-friendly materials, the artist creates lush installations in forests, rivers and streams, then immortalizes them in photographs. Meyer transforms <a href="http://inhabitat.com/massive-whale-sculpture-pops-up-in-a-patagonian-forest-warns-of-a-species-under-threat/" target="_blank">materials from the forest floor</a>, making surprising installations that echo the natural beauty of their surroundings.

Meyer takes soil, bed rock, boulders, stones, flowers and leaves and uses them as building blocks for innovative and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/artist-jaroslaw-koziaras-gigantic-fish-sows-seeds-of-unity-between-poland-and-ukraine/" target="_blank">ephemeral installations</a>.

Swirls of yellow leaves contrast a bed of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/owen-mortensens-organic-art-reveals-the-delicate-inner-workings-of-leaves/" target="_blank">fallen red leaves</a>, creating an interplay between the two colors. The roots of trees are juxtaposed into Surrealist sculptures, with discarded branches built up to create tentacle like arms which radiate from the tree trunk.

Meyer infuses green stream banks with a pop of color, by weaving a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/pics-1000s-of-flowers-fill-spanish-city-streets-for-gironas-colorful-springtime-festival/" target="_blank">blanket of red flowers</a> that rests on a moss-covered boulder.

Moss is then used as a medium, covering spider sculptures that the artist has created, a sort of nature taking over art. Meyers works can even be as simple as a geometric arrangement of flowers, which are <a href="http://inhabitat.com/ben-long-etches-beautiful-reverse-graffiti-drawings-in-exhaust-grime-on-commercial-trucks/" target="_blank">at the mercy of the elements</a> and forest life.

These nature art installations are particularly spectacular, as Meyer uses elements of nature to draw attention to their natural beauty, if not even making them more beautiful. Each piece is non-invasive, combining organic and mineral elements already found at each sculptural and installation site, keeping nature in harmony.

Other artists like Robert Smithson and <a href="http://www.diacenter.org/sites/main/earthroom" target="_blank">Walter de Maria</a> made the Land Art movement popular in the 1970s, with pieces like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Jetty" target="_blank">Spiral Jetty</a> still remaining today. Meyer triumphantly carries on their legacy, creating moving pieces that celebrate the natural beauty that is all around us.