Conceptual+(sara+pd+6+2013)

Conceptual art is an artwork with an ideal (or a concept) as its medium. This type of art is mostly represented through language (mostly text) or photography. Conceptual art reached its zenith in the 60's and 70's, and although there has been a return for conventional art forms, conceptual art remains one of the most influential art movements in the 20th century. The most common medium used for conceptual artists is the use of publications to further their message and in order to spread their ideas. Its controversy often comes with a debate over whether it is art or it isn't, whether its purpose is to convey some deep meaning and break convention or whether to serve as a lazy, pretentious, cheap way to cater to the dull-minded masses. However, this is the very purpose of conceptual art, which is to test the limits of what society considers normal and what it considers outrageous.

The themes that conceptual art challenges are done so in a rather simple means but with a profound effect. The most important theme that conceptual art challenges is what counts as art and what doesn't. This proves to be an easy task, however, since art is such a broad and heterogeneous category. The category it then challenges is media, that being what is the appropriate form of conveying art and the proper way to show an artwork. The reason that this is a test for the viewer of conventional art is because it gets the viewer to think about what should be the central focus and whether it is even something worthy of focus or worthy of conveying whatever message the artist had in mind. This leads us into the aesthetics of art, which is challenged through the distortion of what is considered aesthetically pleasing and forcing the viewer to face a not-so-aesthetically pleasing artwork and have the total distortion of perception (through the viewer's eyes) face them head-on. Aesthetic will often define art, and we will almost immediately recognize the pleasing from the discomforting aesthetic.

Joseph Kosuth, //One and Three Chairs,// ​1965, Wood folding chair, mounted photograph of a chair, and mounted photographic enlargement of the dictionary definition of "chair".

Bruce Nauman, //Perfect Door/Perfect Odor/Perfect Rodo,// 1972//.// Neon tubing and wire with glass tubing suspension frames, three parts.



Sol LeWitt, //Incomplete Open Cubes,// 1974, 122 painted wooden structures on a painted wooden base and 122 framed photographs and drawings on paper.

Jenny Holzer, //Electric Sign,// 1986, Electronic LED (light-emitting diodes) sign, programmed with a text by the artist.



Hans Haacke, //Shapolsky et al. Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, a Real-Time Social System, as of May 1, 1971,// 1971, 142 black-and-white photographs; 142 typewritten sheets; six charts, an explanatory panel, dimensions variable.

Sources:

Conceptual Art." //(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)//. Elisabeth Schellekens, 7 June 2007. Web. 05 June 2013. .

Wainwright, Lisa S. "Conceptual Art." //Encyclopedia Britannica Online//. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 05 June 2013. .

Image sources:

[|One and Three Chairs]

[|Perfect Door/Perfect Odor/Perfect Rodo]

[|Incomplete Open Cubes]

[|Electric Sign]

[|Shapolsky et al. Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, a Real-Time Social System, as of May 1, 1971]