Art-o-Gram: Conceptual artists and the significance of conceptual art

The term conceptual art appears everywhere art is discussed, and quite a few of the most famous artists of our time are conceptual artists. And yet, it is not an art form that can be approached quickly and easily, as was briefly suggested “Art-o-Gram: What exactly is conceptual art?”

Looking at some well-known conceptual artists and their works is a great way to illustrate the diversity of conceptual art and to give an idea of ​​how much fun this art form can be:

Conceptual art as the art of diversity

Marcel Duchamp is considered its co-founder, primarily because he introduced the first readymade into art, the “Roue de bicyclette” (a bicycle tire mounted on a stool). A readymade is an everyday object not created by the artist, but simply designated as a work of art by him without any aesthetic preconceptions.

Duchamp came up with the idea when, in 1912, he admired the technical innovations at the Paris Air Show and subsequently said to his artist friend Constantin Brâncuși:

"Painting is finished. Who can make something better than these propellers? You, perhaps?".

He then gave up painting and took up the bicycle tire. In 1914, the readymade “Bottle Rack” , a mass-produced everyday object that only gained its meaning through Duchamp’s selection as an art object, through his Duchampian gesture of signing it, and the moment of this gesture has since been celebrated as the birth of conceptual art.

The renowned conceptual artist Bruce Nauman works with a wide variety of materials, including photographs, installations, sculptures, neon art, and videos. His primary aim is to disrupt and even shock human sensory perception, as when he, for example, has an opera singer rotate on screen around his own axis, intones a disturbing, desperate, and repetitive chant: “ Feed me / Eat me / Anthropology” “Help me / Hurt me / Sociology” (video installation “Anthro/Socio – Rinde Spinning” , shown at documenta IX in 1992 on multiple screens with superimposed soundtracks).

Sol LeWitt the originator of the term "conceptual art," prefers to create spaces, either by constructing sculptures that blend into a landscape like natural yet surprising elements, such as the "Black Form Dedicated to the Missing Jews ," a black cube in front of the gleaming white Altona Town Hall in Hamburg. Or by painting a wall in such a way that it appears as a sculpture, or both simultaneously. LeWitt also frequently executes his work in series, utilizing a wide variety of media: drawings and watercolors, wall drawings and murals, sculptures, prints, and books.

Lawrence Weiner is also among the prominent conceptual artists , and he also had something to contribute theoretically, namely the Declaration of Intent from 1968 , in which he summarizes the principles of conceptual art as follows: The artist can create the work himself, but it can also be made by assistants or need not be executed at all; all of this is an equally valid realization of the concept. How to actually proceed depends on the circumstances.

Since then, Weiner has authored artist's books with further theoretical contributions to conceptual art , presented text-based artworks in various forms (which he sculptures his textual works, created numerous wall installations, and produced many other conceptual artworks, including video art, film, audio recordings, performances, posters, multiples, and prints. Weiner dislikes inequality, a theme repeatedly expressed in his artworks; indeed, for this "sculptor of language," the (critical) word is paramount; in his opinion, art is impossible without language.

The Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei is far more politically motivated; in his artworks, he criticizes human rights violations, environmental pollution, and economic exploitation, which have become commonplace in China since the country's economic opening. He incorporates artistic traditions from his homeland, as well as Dadaist ideas originating with Duchamp, into his installations and photographs, paintings, books, sculptures, films, and houses.

The American artist Eugenia Perpetua Butler, , spent almost a decade studying shamanism after completing her art studies before discovering Conceptual Art . She participated in many important early exhibitions of Conceptual Art and launched a long career from there, creating simple yet mysteriously interesting artworks that questioned the intricacies of human perception and the relationship between space and time. This was her intention; Butler primarily wanted her art to provoke reflection and discussion.

The American conceptual artist John Baldessari also works extensively with language, placing it in diverse relationships with still and moving images in photographic works, collages, cut-ups, and video performances. His favorite subject is media and its mechanisms, and his motto is never to bore the viewer.

The South Korean-born American Nam June Paik is a conceptual artist of video and media art, but also created incredibly witty sculptures such as the “Pre-Bell-Man”, which stands in front of the Museum of Communication in Frankfurt am Main.

German conceptual artist Cosima von Bonin enjoys working with textiles, but has also created films and installations, as well as artworks that explore society and social relationships. She also collaborates with musicians, exploring the interplay between their respective artistic outputs.

The American conceptual artist Dan Graham, on the other hand, prefers to seduce and abduct his audience into experiential yet small walk-in artworks the size of a pavilion, which can now be found all over the world and in which the senses are addressed in quite surprising ways.

Joseph Beuys also considered one of the conceptual artists, and in addition to the works he presented as a sculptor, draftsman and performance artist, Beuys dealt with humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy.

Typical of conceptual art: Wide scope for interpretation

Beuys' work clearly demonstrates how difficult this art form can be to understand, because such understanding requires the viewer to truly engage with the background of the artwork and the conceptual artist. Overall, however, the above overview also leads to the perhaps somewhat reassuring realization that categorization is actually not very easy.

This allows all those who can live without the "classification of art" to "have their way" – conversely, one can also say: Classification is not necessary at all, conceptual art can be viewed very well without a prior theoretical superstructure.

But one thing becomes quite clear during this brief tour through this type of art: Making assumptions about “what the artist wants to tell us” is always worthwhile, and conceptual art is very often profound, exciting and stimulating art, where subsequent engagement with the artist can bring further surprising insights.

The significance of conceptual art

To understand its significance within the broader field of art, it must be considered in relation to art that is categorized into other art styles. There are many such art styles; art historians distinguish at least hundreds of them, ranging from Aeropittura to the Zigzag Style.

If we want to assess the success of conceptual art in the art world as a whole, one could ask, for example, what position conceptual artists occupy among the world-renowned and commercially successful artists who (from all art styles) appear in international rankings, e.g., in the Artfacts.net of the 500 most successful artists in the world.

conceptual artists worldwide who are well-known enough to appear in international media. Of these, 65 artists are listed on Artfacts, representing about a quarter. This high proportion of conceptual artists on the "world's best-selling art list," compared to artists working in other art styles, suggests above-average success.

A closer look at the list of the 500 best artists reveals a surprising result: Conceptual artists make up almost 20 percent of the 200 highest-paid artists in the world, but only slightly more than 10 percent of the total 500. At least financially speaking, "conceptual art for the home" therefore something primarily for the super-rich, and it would likely be worthwhile to investigate how many of these conceptual artworks served as speculative investments in rampant financial systems.

It's fortunate, then, that there isn't much art of this kind available for private homes anyway, and that many works of art by conceptual artists can be viewed in public spaces, i.e., free for everyone…

Famous works of art and examples of conceptual art