Conceptual Art

"Conceptual Art" or "Idea Art" is all we here at Room 404 are about - talking and dissecting the ideas or concepts behind a piece of art, or (usually) the whole work of an Artist or group of Artists.

The tradicional vision of a piece of art is that the piece is the art itself. In conceptual art, the piece is just an object or representation of the art itself. In this cases, the Art is the concept, the idea, and not the format and representation. This turns to be important to understand why so much conceptualists are not just paintors, musicians, film makers, but do it all and nothing - they just try to spit it out and show their Art/Concept.

Sol Lewitt said:

In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes art.

In the sixties, Joseph Kosuth and English Art and Language group discarded the conventional art object in favour an documented critical inquiry into the artist's social, philosophical and psycological status.

Conceptual Art predates that, but the sixties aren't ocasional: the big boom of Conceptual Art was then a reaction against the commodization of art - it attempted, and in our point of view the need of such an attempt urges more than ever, a subversion of the idea that the gallery, the museum, the publishers, the art market in general is what defines, owns and distributes art.

Laurence Weiner said:

Once you know about a work of mine you own it. There's no way I can climb inside somebody's head and remove it.

Many conceptual artists' work can therefore only be known about through documentation which is manifested by it, e.g. photographs, written texts or displayed objects, which are not in themselves the art. It is sometimes (as in the work of Robert Barry, Yoko Ono, and Weiner) reduced to a set of written instructions describing a work, but stopping short of actually making it - emphasising that the idea is more important than the artifact.

Of course that this makes Conceptual Art quite difficult to understand, interpret, dissect. We, here in the 404, can't do more than spice your appetite to find it for yourselves. We'll throw you some tips, but the art is only beautiful if you're the one doing the process of knowing it.

The fact that this kind of art isn't easy understandable makes it quite hated. As a matter of fact, the existence of such a movement created a counter-movement called "Anticonceptual Art".

Conceptual Art made as an explanation or taking as inspiration from the Conceptual Art itself, is often considered as Post-Conceptual Art. Diving into Post-Conceptualists is often a painfully travel amongst art, history, culture and anthropology. Are you ready to walk on room 404, will you close the door behind?