Thursday, March 22, 2007
Conceptual art
1- According to conceptual art, the "concept" is more important than the work itself. This is not new (idealists have maintained that conception is more important than execution in that ideas are unpolluted by accidents): Art as a mental form; perceived, evaluated and savored as ideological and communicative instead of object-like and/or "expressive." Anything that is made up of "information" (including a written proposal, photographs, documents, maps and whatnot) counts as conceptual (the term has come to encompass all art forms outside traditional painting or sculpture). 2- Conceptual art can be traced back to Marcel Duchamp, who from the second decade of the 20th century produced various iconoclastic pieces in which he questioned the traditional values of the art world. However, conceptual art did not acquire a name or become a recognized movement until the late 1960s. Since then, the conceptual trend became widespread, flourishing at the same time as other movements, such as Arte Povera, Land art, Performance art and video art. 3- Conceptual art was initially anti-commercial. Artists thought that by eliminating objecthood, they would rid themselves of the problem of commodification behind “collectable art” (it didn't happen, after the movement was legitimized, conceptual art was very much collected). 4- By conveying a "conceptual message" artists rejected the Humanist stereotype of "creator" or "talent" so prevalent in the genius culture that developed since the mid-19th Century. 5- Conceptual art takes a great variety of forms, such as diagrams, photographs, video tapes, sets of instructions, and so on. 6- The movement was the forerunner for installation, digital, and other art forms in the 1990's.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Before you asked in class the other night if any of us had made a conceptual piece, I hadn’t really thought of my work as conceptual. But, in fact, it turns out that I’ve made several conceptual pieces. I mentioned the one with the glass balls and guys names wrapped in shear pink fabric and piled in the corner of the room—representing the men in my life (a bit exaggerated) and tossed aside. Here’s an example of another http://www.as.miami.edu/art/glass-files/thelenbrook2.jpg. This piece mixes life (hand and chakra rocks) with death (shell and lizard) and the text (under the lizard), which I don’t recall what it reads, also refers to death and life. There are others, but I won’t bore you with all of them. A lot of the time, I am just making functional art from glass. My goal is evolve so that most, if not all, of my work is conceptual. It is a bit taxing on the brain and takes time and effort. Unfortunately, I don’t always have time. Hopefully, I can make some because I get a lot of pleasure and a feeling of accomplishment from this type of work.
Conceptual art is definitely one form of art that has always been pushing the boundaries of what art is. When you see a conceptual art piece, we may not understand right away why this ‘object’ is considered art. However conceptual art is based on the importance of the meaning behind the piece rather than the work itself. I feel sometimes that people have come up with some ridiculous pieces. People throughout have always been questioning, “What is art?” Many conceptual artists have always gone by the idea that “since I am an artist, therefore this art”. Because of the ever-changing definition of art or what could be art, the important question to ask is: “Is it any good?”
Art can be anything put forward by an artist as art, the only question is whether it is good or bad art. I think conceptual elements are great but that you've got to have good execution of an idea for a work to succeed. You cant be all idea and no craft.
As far as conceptual artist go I appreciate the work of Cristo very much with his images made of umbrellas and the islands he wrapped in pink plastic, both of these ideas were genius.
where in fiu are we supposed to be meeting on friday?? address??
In the past I never really had much of an appreciation for conceptual art. It was probably because I didn't really understand it and know what it meant. That it is much more then pieces of work but also an idea. Usually you look at work and only after do you think about the thought process of the artist and the planning they had to go through. Conceptual art is that thought process. With a new understanding I can appreciate what it is and those who create it.
"In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work . . . all planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes the machine that makes the art."
Sol LeWitt in "Paragraphs on Conceptual Art," in Artforum, summer issue, 1967. Basically, conceptual art is having an idea and the ideas embodied by a piece becoming more vital to the work than the means used to create. Conceptual Art opened the way for installation, digital and performance art. If you look at it music videos, movies they all have to start with an idea or concept therefore, goes back to the idea of conceptual art. In the past from taking various art classes I have noticed that art students spend their time discussing ideas rather than learning how to draw (that’s me).
The conceptual side of art has always blown my brain away. This style of art allows the individual artist to present to you, by whichever form/s of media they feel to be most effective, their inner dwellings of thoughts, beliefs, and understanding of, but not limited to, society. I personally carry around a pen with me at all times (the paper i ask for) because the most random discussions spark of ignitions in my brain and BAM I have an idea. I will quickly scribble it down and keep it. I realize that even if i don't follow through with my conceptual piece, just exercising my mind into relating the symbolism with the materials i plan to use gives me a certain peace within myself, a different understanding to the things i see everyday.
I think in the end most art turns out to be conceptual through the use of symbols to put into the peice undertones of meaning. I find purely conceptual art very interesting in that it opens up a lot more questions than answers. This push into free thinking is particularly satisfying I suspect since it allows the artist and the viewer to develop a purely personal meaning from the work. I can also see how conceptual art can upset some people since there is alot of ready-made objects used. I think it is important in some conceptual art to include these ready-mades since they hold so many socially and culturally created connotations than some drawings could ever accomplish.
Post a Comment