Art-O-Gram: What is conceptual art?

Kunstplaza is constantly introducing a wide variety of artists in the blog who have made a name for themselves in our world. Quite a few of these artists are referred to as "concept artists" , which often raises the question of the freshly art -loving person who is the question of what conceptual art is actually.

Art-O-Gram is therefore followed by concept art, a sketchy approach that conveys first knowledge and would like to encourage further preoccupation with this exciting art movement:

Attempts to approach concept art often end in a slight despair ... 😉

Many people find it difficult to art, they even find it difficult to understand works of concept art as art. It is even more difficult for these people to approach a single concept artist and (meaningful) assumptions about "what the artist wants to tell us" .

So it may first be the turn of the scientists - as always, if the understanding of a area is not easy, an attempt at a classification may help.

And so the art scientists have dealt a lot with pressing concept art into a scaffolding, successfully, of course, concept art is considered a separate art style (you can read more about this in the art-o-gram "how art science brings order to art").

What is concept art now?

In the articles just mentioned, you will find out that classification of art is one of the more difficult tasks anyway, which a real - neutral, on knowledge transfer and not in a merger of any kind - can take on scientists.

Definition in four short sentences:

Concepted art is an artistic style was largely shaped by the US artist Sol Lewitt and the French-American painter and object artist Marcel Duchamp in the 1960s Conceptual Art or Conceptualism ). Concept art is not a coherent art movement or direction, but a number of strategies. Concept artists see art as an idea, not as the creation of a finished, concrete art object.

The origins of concept art lie in a minimal way ( minimalism as an art form), and with it the theories and tendencies of abstract painting further developed.

More complex classification of concept art

In terms of concept art, the classification is particularly problematic, actually “fail” in concept art “failure” all common regulatory criteria - it does not adhere to a genre (not infrequently are used by a wide variety of media), nor in a certain genre (many photographs or landscape images , which in turn is a large portrait), or a specific art form (the sculpture of a concept artist can certainly arise from writing).

In this way, concept art only remains the classification according to style , and that is probably why concept art is considered almost without discussions as one of the safely distinguishable art styles that has worked out the world of art view.

Depending on the restriction to European space or inclusion of the entire art world, after considering all past epochs or only those who are closer to the present, after reducing the so-called highly art or inclusion of everyday art and handicrafts, several dozen or twice as many art styles are distinguished, with rough and finer branches and disputed subdivisions, but the concept art claims its own place under all style models.

In the style science, a recognized backbone of art view, it is searched for which uniform features have different works of art, in order to then combine these works of art under a style name.

Accordingly, concept art or conceptual art was founded in the 1960s by the American artist Sol Lewitt

Because he was the first to define the characteristic considered a decisive characteristic in this classification as a term, with the result that today the art is seen as concept art, in which the concept of the work of art is in the foreground. The idea is made more important than the actual production of the work of art.

The execution of art does not even have to be carried out by the artist itself in concept art, which means that in addition to the finished artwork, concepts and sketches, notes and artists books are also considered to be works of art.

Concept art thus demonstrates the work of art, and quickly develops the actually logical consequence that the viewer must be included in the artwork.

His associations and the context in which a work is considered will play an increasingly important role in the course of the development of concept art, right up to the approach of Dan Graham :

In his opinion, his art pavilions only exist when they are entered by the audience, which brings the artwork to life through its diverse and provoked reactions.

The informative value of this characteristic also explains why such different artifications as object art, transient objects, local installations or happings can therefore be viewed as part of concept art.

You only have to be under the idea that the thought, the concept, and priority of the work of art has a priority. The artist does not necessarily have to be carried out by the artist.

Instead of the finished work, the sketches, instructions, notes, etc. are now also taking art books that develop their own aesthetic qualities.

There is a completely different feature for the viewer of this art-in order to be able to understand a concept art work, he will always have to deal with the artist and his ideas, otherwise he will never be able to recognize a concept.

Conceptualism is an important aspect of contemporary art, but should not be confused with all artistic practices that reject classic media such as painting and sculpture or focus on the artist's intentionality.

Video contribution by the Schirn Kunsthalle as a further explanatory approach

Another definition approach can be found in the following video "What is conceptual art? | The shortest way to more knowledge about art" is made available by the renowned Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt

The key ideas at a glance

• "The idea becomes a machine that makes art" - according to the self -image of the artist Sol Lewitt, which he expressed in his text "Paragraphs on Concept Art" in 1969. This sentence represents the basic concept of the movement with the highlighting of the dominance of the idea.
• The work does not have to be a (finished) object. A collection of instructions from the artist can be sufficient.
• Concept art gives up beauty, aesthetics, rarity and skills as a means of evaluating a work of art.
• Concept art should be mentally interesting and challenging for the viewer. The artists pursue the intention of making concept art provocative.
• Works of concept art also question the role of museums and the mighty role of the art market as a "dictator" about art and art production.

How did the style "concept art" come about?

In the beginning was the abstract expressionism , a art movement of modern painting, which was created after the Second World War in North America, which took spontaneity and emotions more important than rules, reason and perfection.

minimalism ( minimal-art also developed in North America as a counter-movement to this sometimes very wild-abstract presentation in the early 1960s , which aimed at schematic clarity, logic and objectivity and clarity of personal expression.

Abstract Expressionism in particular had decisively influenced the Dadaists and surrealists Marcel Duchamp (who lived in New York during both world wars) and his friend René Magritte (who had his first New York exhibition in 1936), and some aspects of these art styles also made these two extraordinary artists pioneers of concept art.

Surrealism saw it as its main task to shake conventional habits in the perception of art, and Dada revolted against any conventional art and art form and against any bourgeois ideal.

Magritte's ideal of a clearance of reality in the artwork was just as much a programmatic pillar of concept art as Duchamp's idea, "retinal" (only art to be perceived by the eye) was to be taken effectively and not seriously and the real art arises where the work of art in thinking.

The origin of the concept of concept art can be traced back to a text by Henry Flint from 1961, essay: Concept Art , in which the artist and philosopher of the Fluxus group described his performances and his artistic work as a conceptual work.

Marcel Broodthaers also became an important theorist of concept art, actually to the KK in the course of his art. For example, by the first art theory, art market and museum company to the subject of artistic work or if he already exceeds the limits of painting at the end of the 1960s to have installations and artist books, sculptures, films and photographs as art. to be presented.

However, it was the American minimalist Sol Lewitt who, exactly at that time, shaped the term "conceptual art" when he wrote the "Paragraphs on Conceptual Art" in 1967, in which he defines his art as "conceptual" and, especially in mentally, relevant to the viewer, in demarcation to the visual "perception" . For the first time, the idea of ​​the artwork, the concept, is in the foreground in this writing.

The first concept art exhibition, however, is an exhibition by the American artist Mel Bochner from 1966, which took place in the Galerie of the School of Visual Arts in New York .

It was Bochner first exhibition, for "Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Necessarily Meant as Art" ("Working drawings and other visible things on paper that are not necessary to be viewed as art") he had draft drawings, notes, sketches and other material from friends of minimalist artists, e.g. B. a bill from Donald Judd over $ 3.051.16, photographed, the deductions collected in four black folders and exhibited them on four plinths.

concept art appeared in four important exhibitions and in the essay by Lippard Six Years: The Desematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972 , in which the American art historian describes the conceptual art movement of that time.

Since then, many famous concept artists of the world have presented their works on how they fit into the definition just presented and what great importance in concept art in today's art world, you can read "Concept artists and the importance of concept art" .

Concept art today

The concept art movement is formally associated with the concept artists of the 1960s and 1970s. However, it is still present in the artistic production of many contemporary artists.

Even in the 21st century, artists who may not define themselves as conceptually make conceptual art . The influence of conceptualism can be found both in the tendencies on a sociopolitical or institutional criticism of the artwork, as well as in the use of ideas, information as a media for the definition of art.

Your art language can be found in modern installation art, performance art, earth art (Earth Art) or digital and video art.

Important concept artists and their most important works

One of the most important works of art in the conceptual art is undoubtedly the "Wall Drawing #46" by Sol Lewitt . The work consists of written instructions from the artist: "Vertical lines, not exactly, do not touch, cover the wall evenly" , which can then be carried out by the viewer himself.

The artist is not directly involved in the creation and physical embodiment of the work.

"One and Three Chairs" by Joseph Kosuth is another groundbreaking work of concept art. This work consists of a chair, a life -size photography of the chair and a Dictionary definition of the word "chair".

This concept should encourage viewers to ask themselves: What is the "chair", is it the object, the definition or photography or are it all three? Kosuth also refers to the way language is constructed and how words are given meaning when applied to objects.

Allan Kaprow (1927-2006), known for his “Happings” and Andy Warhol  (1928-87), were among the most influential pioneers in concept art Both representatives use conceptualism in different forms (see Gallerix ).

The latest examples of conceptualism are the art arts Barbara Kruger and Christopher Wool as well as the startling body art by Marina Abramovic (born 1946).

Famous artists who are associated with conceptualism:

Yves Klein , whose works Aerostatic Sculpture  (1957, Paris) belonged, in which 1001 blue balloons were released from the Iris Cletert gallery. The following year Klein claimed that his pictures were now invisible and demonstrated this by exhibiting an empty room (Le Vide, The Void) - an early example of installation art.

Stanley Brouwn , famous for his artistic explanation from 1960 that all shoe shops in Amsterdam contained an exhibition of his work.

Piero Manzoni , who scandalized the art world in 1961 by exhibiting foster doses himself. He also exhibited balloons with his breath. Another of his unconventional techniques was to attach his signature on the bodies of customers and to make them living works of art.

Christo and Jeanne Claude Javacheff , Bulgarian sculptor and conceptualist, became famous for his work entitled " Iron Curtain"  ( Eiserner Curtain) from 1962. He explained that the "art" was not in the barricade itself, but in the subsequent traffic jam.

Yoko Ono " Grapefruit", e in book with instructions and drawings in 1964 , in which it is described by cutting and eating grapefruits an aesthetic experience.

John Baldessari , known for his film from 1970, in which a number of intellectually important observations on the concept art of Sol Lewitt are accompanied by popular pieces such as "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Camptown Races"

Douglas Huebler , known for his 1970 exhibition of 12 photos, which were taken every two minutes while he drove his car on a street for 24 minutes.

Judy Chicago , the leading feminist artist of the 1970s. Her main work was the conceptual installation entitled "The Dinner Party" . This consisted of a triangular banquet table with 39 scapes for important female figures in history. The names of 999 others were cut into the floor tiles under the table.

Walter de Maria , who sank a brass rod in northern Germany in 1977 and called the result of vertical kilometers of earth. The "art" therefore exists in people's minds.

Christopher Williams , known for his 1989 work. This included a series of monochrome photos of copies enclosed in glass from the Harvard's Botanical Museum, which were selected according to a list of the thirty -six countries in which the political disappearance was recorded in 1985.

Tracey Emin , created unpainted bed that was littered with personal objects such as condoms, blood-stained panties, bottles and slippers .

Martin Creed , in 2001 the postmodern Scottish artist won the Turner Prize " 227: The Lights Going on and Off" Nine years later, the creator donated this rare work, which consists of an empty room with a flickering light bulb and a corresponding guide. Although it was mocked by a number of art critics and thrown at eggs by one of the jealous artist rival creeds, this conceptual masterpiece has been exhibited in some of the world's leading galleries, most recently in the Museum of Modern Art MoMA in New York.

Other postmodern artists who have used conceptualism in their work are: Giovanni Anselmo (born 1934), Daniel Buren (born 1938), Michael Craig-Martin (born 1941), Gilbert & George (born 1943; born 1942), on Kawara (born 1932), Giuseppe Penone (born 1947), Cindy Sherman (* 1954) and Martin Creed (* 1968).