Conceptual Art

"In Conceptual Art the idea of concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art"
-Sol Lewitt (From "Paragraphs on Conceptual Art" 1967)
Conceptual art is a modern art practice in which the idea or ideas that a work expresses are considered its essential point, with its visual appearance being of secondary (often negligible) importance. It challenged traditional notions of an artwork's proper form through new uses of language, actions, and processes to open up artistic fields in unprecedented ways (Osborne 11). Viewers were encouraged to dynamically experience and respond to the art and become critics themselves. This groundbreaking art practice was not without a strong set of roots in other movements such as Dada, Surrealism, Futurism, and most importantly Minimalism. Also paramount to the understanding of Conceptual Art is its inherent slant toward immateriality.

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