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Conceptual art

Adapted from Wikipedia · Adventurer experience

An artistic representation of an oak tree, designed to inspire creative thinking.

Conceptual art is a type of art where the idea or concept is very important, maybe even more important than how the art looks or how it is made. Instead of focusing on skills like painting or sculpting, conceptual artists think about what the art means and what messages it can share.

One famous artist, Sol LeWitt, said that in conceptual art, all the planning and decisions happen before the art is even made. Making the art then is like following instructions. This shows how important thinking is in this kind of art.

During the 1960s and 1970s, artists like Joseph Kosuth and Lawrence Weiner started to ask questions about what art really is. They wondered if art needed to be a physical object. These questions changed how many people think about art. Even today, conceptual art makes people think deeply about what art can be and what it means.

Precursors

The French artist Marcel Duchamp helped shape conceptual art by creating pieces called readymades. One of his most famous works was Fountain (1917), which was a regular urinal he signed with the name "R.Mutt". He wanted to show this piece at an art exhibition in New York, but it was not accepted. Duchamp showed that everyday objects could be art if the idea behind them was strong.

In 1956, Isidore Isou, the founder of Lettrism, introduced the idea of art that could only exist in our minds. He called this Art esthapériste, meaning "infinite-aesthetics". This type of art comes from ideas about very tiny or very large things, which we can think about but not actually see.

Origins

In 1961, an artist named Henry Flynt first used the term "concept art" in an article. He wanted this art to make people think about ideas, using thoughts and words instead of things like paint.

Later, other artists like Joseph Kosuth and a group called Art and Language used the term in new ways. They talked about what it means to be an artist through writing and discussions. Their work started in a journal called Art-Language: The Journal of Conceptual Art in 1969. By the mid-1970s, they had made many different kinds of art. In 1970, the first show only about conceptual art happened at the New York Cultural Center.

The critique of formalism and of the commodification of art

Lawrence Weiner. Bits & Pieces Put Together to Present a Semblance of a Whole, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2005.

Conceptual art started in the 1960s as a reaction to ideas about art by an important art critic from New York, Clement Greenberg. Greenberg thought modern art should only focus on what makes each type special, like paintings being flat with color. He believed other things, like pictures of objects, did not belong in true art.

Conceptual artists disagreed. They wanted art to focus on ideas, not physical objects. Some even thought their work did not need to be made — just described in writing or photos. This way, anyone could experience the art by reading or seeing the description. Artists like Yoko Ono used written instructions instead of creating physical pieces, showing that the idea behind the art was more important than the object. This also challenged the idea that art had to be sold in galleries or museums.

Language and/as art

Language was very important to the first conceptual artists in the 1960s and early 1970s. Artists like Lawrence Weiner, Edward Ruscha, Joseph Kosuth, Robert Barry, and Art & Language made art using only words. Before this, artists used words as just one part of a painting or drawing, but now they used words as the main thing in their art.

These artists were influenced by ideas about how language works, especially from philosophy. They were also the first artists to study art in university. One artist, Roy Ascott, used ideas about how systems control each other in his art.

Contemporary history

The idea of conceptual art began with artists like Manet and Marcel Duchamp. The main movement started between 1967 and 1978, with artists such as Henry Flynt, Robert Morris, and Ray Johnson leading the way. Later, artists like Dan Graham, Hans Haacke, and Lawrence Weiner also had a big impact.

Today, many artists still use ideas and thoughts as their main focus. They explore topics like social change and politics through different types of art, including installation art, performance art, art intervention, net.art, electronic and digital art.

Notable examples

Jacek Tylicki, Stone sculpture, Give If You Can – Take If You Have To. Palolem Island, India, 2008
Barbara Kruger installation detail at Melbourne
  • 1913: Bicycle Wheel by Marcel Duchamp. This was a bicycle wheel on a stool, and it was the first piece of art made from everyday objects.
  • 1914: Bottle Rack by Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp turned a bottle rack into a piece of art, showing that everyday items can be art.
  • 1915: In Advance of the Broken Arm by Marcel Duchamp. A snow shovel with a title painted on it, this piece was one of the first to be called a "readymade."
  • 1917: Fountain by Marcel Duchamp. A famous piece that helped start conceptual art.
  • 1919: L.H.O.O.Q. by Marcel Duchamp. A drawing of Mona Lisa with added features, turning a famous painting into something new.
  • 1952: American composer John Cage performed 4′33″, where the music was simply silence, making people think about what art can be.
  • 1953: Robert Rauschenberg created Erased De Kooning Drawing by erasing another artist's work, raising questions about what makes something art.
  • 1958: George Brecht created simple instructions called Event Scores for people to follow, turning everyday actions into art.
  • 1961: Piero Manzoni sold tins that he said contained his own material, and also sold his breath in balloons, showing unusual ideas about art.
  • 1962: Artist Billy Apple changed his identity as a way to explore everyday life as art.
  • 1962: Yves Klein held ceremonies where he sold his "pictorial sensitivity" for gold leaf, then burned the certificate and threw the gold into the water.
  • 1964: Yoko Ono published Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions and Drawings, a book of instructions for creating art experiences.
  • 1965: Joseph Kosuth created One and Three Chairs, showing a chair, a photo of a chair, and the dictionary definition of a chair.
  • 1968: Lawrence Weiner wrote about his art instead of making physical pieces, saying the idea was enough.
  • 1973: Jacek Tylicki placed blank sheets in nature, letting the environment create the art.
  • 1999: Tracey Emin showed her unmade bed as art, including personal items around it.
  • 2001: Martin Creed won an award for a room where the lights turned on and off.
  • 2005: Simon Starling turned a shed into a boat and then back into a shed again.
  • 2019: Maurizio Cattelan sold a piece that looked like a banana taped to a wall for a very high price.

Notable conceptual artists

Conceptual art is a style where the idea or thought behind the artwork is just as important as how it looks or feels. Many artists who work in this way focus on sharing their thoughts and ideas instead of just creating pretty pictures.

Here are some well-known artists who have worked with conceptual art ideas:

Images

An abstract memorial in Vienna honoring victims of Nazi military justice, designed with converging lines and the word 'all' to symbolize unity and remembrance.
Cover of the influential 1974 conceptual art journal 'Art-Language,' featuring the title 'Draft for an Anti-Textbook.'

Related articles

Idea
Painting
New York City

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Conceptual art, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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