Conceptual art: what's the point?
- Thread starter Mr. Tea
- Start date
He does talk about this sort of language though,
If incoherent, then "the work invites a construction process undertaken by the viewer as much as the artist" (Francis McKee, quoted in Art Monthly, February '99).
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
Being a dyed-in-tweed conservative, I generally feel ill-disposed towards conceptual art but I really loved the Antony Gormley exhibition at the RA, whenever that was.
I was going to slag conceptual art off but now I've remembered the Gormley exhibition it's disarmed me.
Perhaps I could argue that Gormley's sculptures are fascinating in of themselves, fascinating enough to sustain his concepts, though I'm not sure that's true.
I also enjoyed the fact that you could make up meanings for these objects (prompted, of course, by the explanatory notes), they would provoke thought, not dictate it.
I was going to slag conceptual art off but now I've remembered the Gormley exhibition it's disarmed me.
Perhaps I could argue that Gormley's sculptures are fascinating in of themselves, fascinating enough to sustain his concepts, though I'm not sure that's true.
I also enjoyed the fact that you could make up meanings for these objects (prompted, of course, by the explanatory notes), they would provoke thought, not dictate it.
Leo
Well-known member
I wouldn't think of Gormley as conceptual art, strictly speaking. he's a sculptor who creates installations, and of course like every artists there is a "concept" behind the work, but that's different from a conceptual artist like, say, Martin creed's work no. 227 or Francis Alÿs "sometimes making something leads to nothing", where the idea itself is the art.
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Corpsey
bandz ahoy
I think some of his stuff is very conceptual in that if you didn't read what he'd written about it you wouldn't necessarily come to the meaning he had in mind.
Often I'm rather grouchy about the explanatory notes you get at modern art galleries, because it seems to me that the art itself doesn't stand up on its own merits and needs the text - but then, why not accept that these notes are part of the artwork?
These artists are playing a different game to prior generations.
What I find dispiriting or suspicious is that the new game doesn't require much artistic skill (at least to be demonstrated) – if you're the first to do it, and can come up with a credible-sounding explanation for it, you can piss in a coffee cup and stick a camera lens in there etc etc.
I'd wager 99% of people who go to the Sistine Chapel don't understand what's going on in that painting (I certainly wouldn't claim to), but the aesthetic skill of it is evident, and the affect overwhelming.
I think Gormley's sculpture has that going for it, by and large. Even without the explanation you can enjoy the way he uses space.
Often I'm rather grouchy about the explanatory notes you get at modern art galleries, because it seems to me that the art itself doesn't stand up on its own merits and needs the text - but then, why not accept that these notes are part of the artwork?
These artists are playing a different game to prior generations.
What I find dispiriting or suspicious is that the new game doesn't require much artistic skill (at least to be demonstrated) – if you're the first to do it, and can come up with a credible-sounding explanation for it, you can piss in a coffee cup and stick a camera lens in there etc etc.
I'd wager 99% of people who go to the Sistine Chapel don't understand what's going on in that painting (I certainly wouldn't claim to), but the aesthetic skill of it is evident, and the affect overwhelming.
I think Gormley's sculpture has that going for it, by and large. Even without the explanation you can enjoy the way he uses space.
Leo
Well-known member
yeah, I guess my point was conceptual art has less to do with making something and is more centered around the idea; whereas Gormley is a talented sculptor who uses his creations in interesting ways. The physical thing is not really the point with conceptual art, like the candies in Felix Gonzalez-Torres' Candy Works
pattycakes_
Can turn naughty
A girl I knew who worked in a factory workshop for a fairly high profile guy said it's pretty much the norm now. He was selling pieces to people like Elton John etc. When she left after working for him a good few years, he gifted her a painting - which she'd done herself. He just signed it