CONCEPTUALISM
"Ideas alone can be works of art; they are in a chain of development that may eventually find some form. All ideas need not be made physical."
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| Figure 1. Conceptual Art Timeline Image via www.theartstory.org |
Conceptual art is a movement that prizes ideas over the formal or visual components of art works. An amalgam of various tendencies rather than a tightly cohesive movement, Conceptualism took myriad forms, such as performances, happenings, and ephemera. From the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s Conceptual artists produced works and writings that completely rejected standard ideas of art. Their chief claim - that the articulation of an artistic idea suffices as a work of art - implied that concerns such as aesthetics, expression, skill and marketability were all irrelevant standards by which art was usually judged. So drastically simplified, it might seem to many people that what passes for Conceptual art is not in fact "art" at all, much as Jackson Pollock's "drip" paintings, or Andy Warhol's Brillo Boxes (1964), seemed to contradict what previously had passed for art. But it is important to understand Conceptual art in a succession of avant-garde movements (Cubism, Dada, Abstract Expressionism, Pop, etc.) that succeeded in self-consciously expanding the boundaries of art. Conceptualists put themselves at the extreme end of this avant-garde tradition. In truth, it is irrelevant whether this extremely intellectual kind of art matches one's personal views of what art should be, because the fact remains that Conceptual artists successfully redefine the concept of a work of art to the extent that their efforts are widely accepted as art by collectors, gallerists, and museum curators.
KEY IDEAS OF CONCEPTUAL ART
- Conceptual artists link their work to a tradition of Marcel Duchamp, whose Readymades had rattled the very definition of the work of art. Like Duchamp before them, they abandoned beauty, rarity, and skill as measures of art.
- Conceptual artists recognize that all art is essentially conceptual. In order to emphasize this, many Conceptual artists reduced the material presence of the work to an absolute minimum - a tendency that some have referred to as the "dematerialization" of art.
- Conceptual artists were influenced by the brut simplicity of Minimalism, but they rejected Minimalism's embrace of the conventions of sculpture and painting as mainstays of artistic production. For Conceptual artists, art need not look like a traditional work of art, or even take any physical form at all.
- The analysis of art that was pursued by many Conceptual artists encouraged them to believe that if the artist began the artwork, the museum or gallery and the audience in some way completed it. This category of Conceptual art is known as 'institutional critique,' which can be understood as part of an even greater shift away from emphasizing the object-based work of art to pointedly expressing cultural values of society at large.
- Much Conceptual art is self-conscious or self-referential. Like Duchamp and other modernists, they created art that is about art, and pushed its limits by using minimal materials and even text.
Sentences on Conceptual Art - by Sol Lewitt
First published in 0-9 (New York), 1969, and Art-Language (England), May 1969
1. Conceptual artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.
2. Rational judgements repeat rational judgements.
3. Irrational judgements lead to new experience.
4. Formal art is essentially rational.
5. Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically.
6. If the artist changes his mind midway through the execution of the piece he compromises the result and repeats past results.
7. The artist's will is secondary to the process he initiates from idea to completion. His wilfulness may only be ego.
8. When words such as painting and sculpture are used, they connote a whole tradition and imply a consequent acceptance of this tradition, thus placing limitations on the artist who would be reluctant to make art that goes beyond the limitations.
9. The concept and idea are different. The former implies a general direction while the latter is the component. Ideas implement the concept.
10. Ideas can be works of art; they are in a chain of development that may eventually find some form. All ideas need not be made physical.
11. Ideas do not necessarily proceed in logical order. They may set one off in unexpected directions, but an idea must necessarily be completed in the mind before the next one is formed.
12. For each work of art that becomes physical there are many variations that do not.
13. A work of art may be understood as a conductor from the artist's mind to the viewer's. But it may never reach the viewer, or it may never leave the artist's mind.
14. The words of one artist to another may induce an idea chain, if they share the same concept.
15. Since no form is intrinsically superior to another, the artist may use any form, from an expression of words (written or spoken) to physical reality, equally.
16. If words are used, and they proceed from ideas about art, then they are art and not literature; numbers are not mathematics.
17. All ideas are art if they are concerned with art and fall within the conventions of art.
18. One usually understands the art of the past by applying the convention of the present, thus misunderstanding the art of the past.
19. The conventions of art are altered by works of art.
20. Successful art changes our understanding of the conventions by altering our perceptions.
21. Perception of ideas leads to new ideas.
22. The artist cannot imagine his art, and cannot perceive it until it is complete.
23. The artist may misperceive (understand it differently from the artist) a work of art but still be set off in his own chain of thought by that misconstrual.
24. Perception is subjective.
25. The artist may not necessarily understand his own art. His perception is neither better nor worse than that of others.
26. An artist may perceive the art of others better than his own.
27. The concept of a work of art may involve the matter of the piece or the process in which it is made.
29. The process is mechanical and should not be tampered with. It should run its course.
30. There are many elements involved in a work of art. The most important are the most obvious.
31. If an artist uses the same form in a group of works, and changes the material, one would assume the artist's concept involved the material.
32. Banal ideas cannot be rescued by beautiful execution.33. It is difficult to bungle a good idea.
34. When an artist learns his craft too well he makes slick art.
35. These sentences comment on art, but are not art.
Task 4: On Conceptualism
Using key developments of art and design that have been discussed during this module, I am required to develop images or video or sculptures etc. That explore one of the three of the five themes. The work to be produced needs to be based on the practical work you are exploring in my other modules. It is important that what is made of this module is independent of the work of the other modules, as the same work cannot be assessed twice.
Idealization:
In this process, I worked
under supervision of the module leader for 20th Century design in
order to choose and formulate an idea of the theme and select one of
the practical work explored in my other modules to produce my final
art work. After a review of all the works produced from other
modules, we selected two completed task from “Critical Thinking
module.” Two of the task selected are:
1. Task on Typography – created set of alphabets using twine.
2. Task on Words as Visual Expression – created typographic elements/ expression.
Process used:
1. Task on Typography –
In this task I was required to create a set of alphabets without
using any mark making tools.
In the process of
developing my set of alphabets I used twine to create the word
"LOVE" on cardboard. This process is another form of
creating alphabets without using any mark making (pen, pencils,
ink, brush, marker etc).
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| Fig 2. Typographic Formation of Love by Mark (2014) |
2. Task on Words as Visual Expression – This task required me to make typographic elements/ expression a technique of Kinetic typography — which is the technical name for "moving text.
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| Fig 3. Different - Typographic Expression by Mark (2014) |
In the process of developing this typographic expression I had to relate it to myself as I am left handed which makes me different. In order to express this characteristics using words as visual, I had to make the letter 'T' text different from the rest type font.
Final work:
In the process of producing my final work on conceptual art, I used the concept of typographic formation and typographic expression to create two new conceptual art piece I titled “Love Flow” and “Different.”
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| Fig 4. Love Flow - Conceptual Art By Mark (2014) |
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| Fig 5. Different - Conceptual Art by Mark (2014) |
Interpretation: (On Love Flow Art work)
Looking at this piece of art, the reflection on two important questions resounds in mind (1) What do I see in this piece of art? (2) What does the piece of art mean to me? In conceptual art, “Perception is subjective.” “The concept and idea are different. The former implies a general direction while the latter is the component. Ideas implement the concept.” The idea of my conceptual art work presents Love as a flow. The two twines represent two entity “It takes two to love.” The different colours represent the different attributes of love.
Interpretation: (On Different Art work)
The idea of my conceptual art work on “Different,” is a medium size picture collage art that embodies seemingly different, even oppositional ideas, such as order of arrangement, shape formation and individuality, irregularity, singularity and conformity. It is composed of different cut and paste pictures. Indeed, although the pictures are placed in different positions, viewers should think of them as holding different opinions and verity of ideas in life, such as race, culture, religion, and food, namely the verity is the spice of life.
References:
The Art Story Foundation, (2014), Conceptual Art Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-conceptual-art.htm [Accessed 26 December 14].
Sol Lewitt. 1969. Sentences on Conceptual Art. [ONLINE] Available at: http://viola.informatik.uni- bremen.de/typo/fileadmin/media/lernen/LeWittSentencesConceptual.pdf. [Accessed 26 December 14].
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