Before the turn of the 20th century when artists and critics defied the authority of the conventional way of art of the institution, art was once easily identifiable, often in the form of paintings and sculptures. Emerged in the mid 20th century, conceptual art challenged the perception of art and the definition of art by emphasizing on the idea and notion of art over a formal finished artwork. Conceptual art, was also a form of political and social commentary in the time of social upheaval. Performance art and installation have overlapping characteristics and ideas behind them, therefore most artists were involved with all three genres and sometimes it was hard to classify them in either categories.
A Line Made by Walking Untitled Wall-Floor Positions
1967 1969 1968
Richard Long Jannis Kounellis Bruce Nauman
First coined by Henry Flynt in his article with the title bearing the same name, " Concept Art " (1963) which was published in An Anthology (1963), a Fluxus publication. Conceptual art developed from the ideas of one of the most influential precedent of contemporary art , Marcel Duchamp whose Readymades dismissed the conventional perception that art requires artistic skills. Although Duchamp is known as the forefather of conceptual art, Edward Kienholz had been making installation and assemblage art before the movement was even founded. Traditionally, an everyday object was not seen as art as it was not made by the artist himself nor do they have any, however Duchamp's infamous Fountain ( 1917 ) broke the conventional perception of art which was later acknowledge by Joseph Kosuth in his essay "Art after Philosophy," in which he stated that "All art (after Duchamp) is conceptual (in nature) because art only exists conceptually".
Conceptual art, based on the notion that the essence of art is the idea behind it, which often question the notion of art. Sol Lewitt's " Paragraphs on Conceptual Art " published in 1967 was widely considered as the manifesto of the movement. Lewitt mentioned that " conceptual art is made to engage the mind of the viewer rather than his eye or emotions ", accentuating that material and aesthetics are secondary to the idea and meaning of art. Therefore, artists "dematerialized " their artwork by reducing material usage to an absolute minimum. Conceptual art often include
documentations in the form of text, photography, video as well as other digital means as they are presented in various forms which are ephemeral. Performance art, installation art, Happenings and body art, though considered a movement themselves are often seen as an extension of conceptual art as they share similar principles of not only rejecting the traditional understanding of art and also revolting against the commodification of art, therefore they have no inherent financial value.
Conceptual art was often misunderstood and still is. Like many other art movements of the 20th century, conceptualism was driven by the social and political construction of the time, it was also considered by many as the general term that encompass all contemporary art that questions the assumption that artist have to produce material objects with traditional technique and also art that is hard to define and categorized. The work of art of conceptualist could be ephemeral or none existent physically, nothing more than the idea of it, it is up to your imagination as the viewer as many conceptual artists believe that art is created by the viewer not the artwork of the artist itself. Although conceptual art was most prominent in the 1960s, many artists continued creating conceptual art today, such as Damien Hirst, Martin Creed and Simon Starling.
References
Art Encyclopedia. ( n.d. ). Conceptual Art. Retrieved from http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/conceptual-art.htm
Guggenheim. ( n.d. ). Conceptual Art. Retrieved from https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/move
Kaplan, I. ( 2016, March 31 ). If You Don’t Understand Conceptual Art, It’s Not Your Fault. Retrieved from https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-if-you-don-t-understand-conceptual-art-it-s-not-your-fault
Laing, O. ( 2016, April 9 ). Conceptual art: why a bag of rubbish is not just a load of garbage. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/apr/09/conceptual-art-tate-britain-olivia-laing
Pereira, L. ( 2015, April 6 ). Conceptual Art Movement And Examples. Retrieved from https://www.
Tate. ( n.d. ). Conceptual Art. Retrieved from https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/conceptual-art
Wainwright, L, S. ( n.d. ). Conceptual Art. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/conceptual-art
Wolf, J. ( 2017 ). Conceptual Art Movement Overview and Analysis. Retrieved from https://www.theart
Comments