We explain what conceptual art is, how it originated and its characteristics. We also explain its main artists and works.
What is conceptual art?
In art history and other related disciplines, conceptual art is known as a contemporary artistic trend in which The concept or idea behind the artistic piece is much more important than its formor even that the physical object or material that contains it.
That is to say, it is a fundamentally mental art form and the field of ideas, which is indifferent to the technique and material aspects of artistic representation. Thus, conceptual art encompasses an immense set of expressions and expressive methods, ranging from visual arts, music, happenings and performing arts, to poetry and the manufacture of objects.
However, in all cases, the important factor is precisely the concept behind the work of art, the idea that gives it meaning, and not so much the actual ways in which the artist made the work. This is what radically distinguishes conceptual art from traditional considerations of art, in which the artist’s method was precisely what produced the work.
On the other hand, when talking about conceptual art, reference is typically made to a artistic movement in the United States and England that was of great importance in the 1960s and 1970s.
As a movement, it was a reaction to the formalism that predominated in the arts after the Second World War. It was also strongly influenced by the ““Ready-mades” by the Frenchman Marcel Duchamp of the early twentieth century.
Although the art movement as such ended in the 1980s, conceptual art It is considered a current and important category in contemporary art.to such an extent that many authors propose to speak of a post-conceptual art for all artistic manifestations after that moment, as a way of emphasizing the profound change in the artistic paradigm that conceptual art brought with it.
See also: Abstract art
Characteristics of conceptual art
Broadly speaking, the characteristics of conceptual art can be summarized as follows:
- It is a art form focused on idea, sense and meaning, and not so much in the technique, the materials and the work of art itself. For this reason, the work can be made of any materials, or consist of a situation, an effect or a combination of objects, because what is relevant in it is the idea to be transmitted, not the objects through which it is transmitted. .
- Works of conceptual art can consist of sketches, incomplete pieces, everyday objects taken out of context, situational representations, bodywork, video series, photography or even pieces of software. Practically anything goes, as long as the work expresses a recognizable ideawhich generally has to do with social, political, ecological commentary, etc.
- In conceptual art, Everyday objects can be part of the work of art, whenever they are stripped of their common use and forced to resignify themselves, that is, to say other things that they do not normally say. For example, Marcel Duchamp’s irreverent gesture when placing a urinal in a museum exhibition is itself the work of art, and not the urinal, which is the same as any other and has no aesthetic value in itself.
- The works of conceptual art require greater collaboration from the viewer to produce their artistic fact, that is, they require a more analytical and involved spectator, more willing to interpret and experience the work. This is especially important to recognize the irony, parody and mockery present in much conceptual art.
- The purpose of conceptual art can be explained as stripping the aesthetic experience of artistic elaboration, that is: achieve the power of art without having to “make” a workor at least not in the traditional sense.
Representative artists and works of conceptual art
There are many different artists and works that can be cited as examples of conceptual art. However, the following are some particularly representative examples:
- De Kooning drawing erased by Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008). This is a 1953 work by the American painter, important in the Pop-art movement of the mid-20th century, which features an empty canvas, on which there was supposedly a drawing by the Dutch painter Willem de Kooning, which Rauschenberg erased. The work of art was that: the erasure of another’s work of art.
- Artist shit by Piero Manzoni (1933-1963). In 1961, this Italian artist exhibited a set of cans in which there were supposedly samples of his feces, and proposed selling them in grams of gold. At that same exhibition he also sold balloons with his breath, “Artist’s Breath.” Clearly, the work was in the gesture, and not in the breath or feces themselves, if it were true that they were for sale.
- Western and Christian civilization by León Ferrari (1920-2013). This is a 1965 sculpture by this Argentine visual artist, whose work focuses on political and cultural protest. It presents the figure of Jesus Christ crucified on an American military plane. With this work he won the Golden Lion at the 52nd Venice Art Biennale, and it is a very controversial and debated work that has often sparked protests among conservative and religious sectors.
- 4’33” by John Cage (1912-1992). This is perhaps one of the best-known pieces by this American composer, painter and philosopher, one of the names of obligatory reference when talking about the contemporary artistic avant-garde, especially musical. It is a piece lasting four minutes and thirty-three seconds, which can be performed by any musical instrument, since the score has only one indication: “tacet”, a term used in musical notation to indicate the silence of an instrument. . Thus, the entire piece is made up of four and a half minutes in which the musical instrument is not heard.
- White chess by Yoko Ono (1933-). This Japanese conceptual artist, a member of the Fluxus visual arts collective that was very active between 1960 and 1970, is also famous for having been the partner of ex-Beatle John Lennon. Her artistic work, however, is very famous for its pacifist message and against violence, as in this case: a chess set of pure white pieces, on a board of pure white squares. The concept behind the work is, clearly, that in reality there are no enemies or rival sides in humanity.
- sunflower seeds by Ai Wei Wei (1957-). Son of Chinese intellectuals opposed to the Mao Zedong regime, Ai Wei Wei grew up in the countryside of communist China and emigrated to the United States, where he has become one of the most critical voices in the art world regarding the human rights violations by the government of his country. This seems to be expressed in works such as this one, from 2010, in which he covered an area of 1,000 square meters of the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern museum in the United Kingdom, with one hundred million porcelain sunflower seeds, hand-made by 1,600 Chinese workers from the Jingdezhen region over the course of two years.
Continue with: Dadaism