Conceptual Art

After reading the Arte Povera on Tates glossary art terms, I discovered that this movement was seen as the Italians contribution to conceptual art. After also reading that Alighiero Boetti was considered a conceptual artist I decided to research into this movement. 

'Clock (One and Five)' - Joseph Kosuth, 1965, 1997

According to Tate glossary conceptual art is 'art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object. It emerged as an art movement in the 1960s and the term usually refers to art made from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.' They continued to write that 'it was an international art movement happening more or less simultaneously across Europe, North America and South America. Artists associated with the movement attempted to bypass the increasingly commercialised art world by stressing thought processes and methods of production as the value of the work. The art forms they used were often intentionally those that do not produce a finished object such as a sculpture or painting. This meant that their work could not be easily bought and sold and did not need to be viewed in a formal gallery situation.' 

'Post-Partum Document.' - Mary Kelly, 1975 

What does conceptual art look like?

Conceptual art can be and look like almost anything. This is because conceptual artists use whatever materials and whatever form is most appropriate to putting their ideas across. Some of the ways conceptual artists explored and expressed their ideas was through performance, instructions, actions, land art, body art, found objects, documentation, written statements and film/video.

'Time Base Roller' - John Latham, 1972

Some of the main artists associated with the conceptual art movement are: Art & Language, John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, Victor Burgin, Michael Craig-Martin, Gilbert & George, Mary Kelly, Yves Klein, Joseph Kosuth, John Latham, Richard Long and Piero Manzoni.

My Thoughts: I like how in conceptual art it is about the idea behind the work rather than the object itself because it causes us to stop and think - we ask ourselves questions like; what was the artist trying to say? why did the artist choose to display it like this? etc. But it's interesting how conceptual art has the ability to create discussion and debate on what is art? whilst disrupting the commercialization of the art world. such as the nappie liners of Mary Kelly's Post-Partum or Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, which was turned down by Society of Independent Artists. Yet to this day the idea behind Fountain still interests people and still creating debate on what is art.