User:Emily/NOTES for Own Research & Resource 07
Sol LeWitt (b. 1928) 'Parapraphs on Conceptual Art'
LeWitt's work:
- the work of repetition and permutaion
- systematic exclusion of any individuality of touch
- in 20s, open-framed, rectangular structures presented in series
- in 60s, formulating proposals for wall drawings, to be executed according to his insturctions
The present text is taken from the first publication in Artform, vol.5, no.10, Summer 1967, pp.79-83
conceptual form of art - all of the planning and decisions are made before hand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.
mentally interesting - emotionally dry
The logic of a piece or series of pieces is a device that is used at times only to be ruined.
logic used as camouflage
In terms of idea the artist is free to even surprise himself. Ideas are discovered by intuition.
The work of art can only be perceived after it is completed
Art that is meant for the sensation of the eye primarily would be called perceptual rather than conceptual
conception vs perception
to work with a plan that is pre-set is one way of avoiding subjectivity
the artist would select the basic form and rules that would govern the solution of the problem. After that the fewer decisions made in the course of completing the work, the better
In fact it is best that the basic unit be deliberately uninteresting so that it may more easily become an intrinsic part of the entire work
using a simple form repeatedly narrows the field of the work and concentrates the intensity to the arrangement of the form. This arrangement becomes the end while the form becomes the means
those that show the thought process of the artist are sometimes more interesting than the final product
the internals and measurements can be important to a work of art. When the interval is kept regular whatever is irregular gains more importance
the danger of new materials - in making the physicality of the materials so important that it becomes the idea of the work (another kind of expressionism)
conceptual art is made to engage the mind of the viewer rather than his eye or emotions
the conceptual artists would want to ameliorate this emphasis on materiality as much as possible or to use it in a paradoxical way (to convert it into an idea). This kind of art then, should be stated with the most commom of means
Sol LeWitt (b. 1928) 'Sentences on Conceptual Art'
mystic vs rationalist
rational vs illogical
artist's will vs process initiating from idea to completion
concept vs idea - ideas implement the concept
convention of art vs works of art
banal idea/good idea vs execution
perception of ideas --> new ideas
Book: ART IN THEORY 1900-1990, An Anthology of Changing Ideas edited by Charles Harrison & Paul Wood
- Paste-ups