Art & LanguageNo Secret Painting XI, 2007, Painting and text: Part 1 (painting) 2 × 2 1/16 in (5.1 × 5.2 cm); Part 2 (text) 3 1/2 × 2 5/8 in (9 × 6.7 cm) © the artist; Courtesy, Lisson Gallery, London
IDEAS AS ART
An artwork can be simply an idea or something generated totally by an idea, an approach known as conceptual art. Although examples of such artworks go back at least to the readymades of Marcel Duchamp in the early twentieth century, conceptual art emerged as an identifiable movement only in the 1960s. In Art Forum, in 1967, American artist Sol Lewitt wrote, “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 the art.”
• Imaginary works
The artist supplies a description of something that would be impossible or very difficult to fabricate. The audience engages the work through imaginative contemplation.
• Philosophical examination
The artist gives up the task of making objects in favor of a philosophical examination of the nature of art and art practice. This approach is favored by the English group Art and Language. They published magazines and articles from the late 1960s onward in which they applied the methods of linguistic philosophy to pursue a semantic investigation of art.
• Instruction list
The artist invents the artwork as a concept and provides a list of instructions whereby anyone can fabricate it. In this approach, the art object is demystified; it is no longer imbued with the aura of uniqueness that is traditionally associated with a work of art. For instance, Sol Lewitt (1928–2007) made many wall drawings that exist as lists of instructions. They continue to be executed after the artist’s death.
• Designation
The artist designates an object or occurrence in the world as an artwork. For example, in 1960, Dutch artist Stanley Broun declared that all the shoe stores in Amsterdam constituted his art object.
• Document
An event, object, or activity is documented, and the documentation is then exhibited as evidence of an artwork that can be contemplated but which may no longer exist.
• Political/social statement
The artist employs the forum of the art exhibit in order to focus attention on a political or social issue. In 1971, artist Hans Haacke presented Real Time Social System, an investigation into the real estate holdings and commercial practices of a wealthy New York family, as an exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum. The museum abruptly cancelled the exhibition.
Art & Language
No Secret Painting XI, 2007, Painting and text: Part 1 (painting) 2 × 2 1/16 in (5.1 × 5.2 cm); Part 2 (text) 3 1/2 × 2 5/8 in (9 × 6.7 cm) © the artist; Courtesy, Lisson Gallery, London
