Conceptual art

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

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917. Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz

One famous artist, Sol LeWitt, said that in conceptual art, all the planning and decisions are made before the art is even created. The actual making of the art then becomes almost like following a set of instructions. This idea helps show how important the thought process is in this kind of art.

During the 1960s and 1970s, artists like Joseph Kosuth and Lawrence Weiner began to question what art really is. They wondered if art needed to be a physical object at all. These questions helped change the way many people think about art. Even today, conceptual art continues to make 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 tried 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, a thinker and artist named Henry Flynt first used the term "concept art" in an article. He wanted this type of art to question ideas about logic and math, using thoughts and words instead of traditional materials.

Later, other artists like Joseph Kosuth and a group called Art and Language used the term in new ways. They focused on exploring what it means to be an artist through writing, talks, and discussions. Their work began in a journal called Art-Language: The Journal of Conceptual Art in 1969. By the mid-1970s, they had created many different kinds of pieces. 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 began in the 1960s partly as a response to ideas about art put forward by an important art critic from New York, Clement Greenberg. Greenberg believed that modern art should focus only on what makes each type of art special, like paintings being flat surfaces with color. He thought anything else, like pictures of things or 3-D effects, didn’t belong in true art.

Conceptual artists felt this was too limiting. They wanted art to focus more on ideas than on physical objects. Some thought their work didn’t even 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 itself. This approach also challenged the idea that art had to be sold in galleries or museums, suggesting that knowing about the art was enough to “own” it.

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, called cybernetics, in his art, showing how conceptual art connects with technology.

Contemporary history

The idea of conceptual art started with artists like Manet and Marcel Duchamp. The main movement began 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, whether they call themselves conceptual artists or not. 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 mounted on a stool, considered 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: