Conceptual Art, Any Ideas?

I am here, Ronald, on this sight (sic), tonight, though exactly where 'here' might be is relative only to where I am in a virtual, not actual, sense, and I am a conceptual artist to the extent that I say I am a conceptual artist, the veracity of which I will now easily prove. To wit:

Conceptual Artwork Number One: Paper Moon and Beyond!

Take a piece of A4 size, red construction paper and fold it in half along the width of the sheet exactly 42 times, thereby reaching the moon and beyond.

(I am also working on Conceptual Artwork Number Two: Turtles All the Way Down!)

Please note the use of exclamation marks in the titles, as the meaning is very important. Very important.

Seems as if conceptual art takes a beating on sights such as this. I must say it is at times baffling, trying to get a grip on it.

I just have not figured it out yet. None of the examples I have seen do anything for.

Ronald, you wrote: "Seems as if conceptual art takes a beating on sights (sic) such as this. I must say it is at times baffling, trying to get a grip on it."

Perhaps you were expecting a simple 'yes-or-no' answer in response to your OP; understand that when you use the word 'conceptual' here in reference to FAA artists and their ideas, you've opened a can of worms.

I come from the civil engineering field where the word conceptual has a whole different meaning....making almost all art work conceptual. Perhaps you could add a definition so as Patrick says the worms stay in the can...then again that is part of the fun.

Like Val, when I hear the word conceptual art I think of architectural and industrial design, although I have seen some amazing and awesome artwork come from them.

Well I suppose the most extreme form of conceptual art would be ...the Invisible...as in your other thread :)

lol yup. :)

I'm not sure exactly what you are asking but here is one definition of Conceptual art:

----Conceptual art, sometimes simply called Conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many works of conceptual art, sometimes called installations, may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions.[1] This method was fundamental to American artist Sol LeWitt's definition of Conceptual art, one of the first to appear in print:

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. ----


Anyone that thinks the average buyer that finds his way into FAA is going understand that is dreaming. They are more likely to run for the door. Suggesting these would be buyers should understand, would call for beating.

If you are talking about the other artist on FAA, well... not sure I really care.

If you look at that definition incidentally, one would have to include paint by numbers as conceptional art. Again, a beating would be in order. lol

There's a lot of conceptual art that I just don't get. I had a friend who was a conceptual artist, and at his gallery show he had one piece (that's all) which consisted of a long board propped up against the gallery wall. Same board he bought on a trip we took to Home Depot, and lots of very rich people were oohing and aahing over it when all he had done was sand it down and put some varnish on it.

I would have to agree with Val. During any engineering project, conceptual visualization is the initial staring point of any project. Often there is a more artistic flair at this stage. This is part of the pitch. Unlike most art,the intent is to turn the concept into something physical. In the case of software development, abstract diagrams are used and even if they are well rendered, they have no real artistic value.

" they have no real artistic value."

Vs peeing in a glass and sticking a cross in it?

I've had an idea! I want to sell the idea of me having an idea.... any ideas?

Ronald, here's an Idea. I'll build a bootleg still, get drunk on the moonshine, and then I'm make a copper sculpture of it and sell it on faa, and if that doesn't work, well you got it, I'll drink some more moonshine, get drunk again and keep trying.

Then when I get the munchies, I'll build me a butcher shop with all my favorite meats. I don't know if any of this is Conceptual Art because I can understand what I'm making, now when I make something I can't understand I'll be sure it's conceptual art.

Read about a conceptual art show where one walks into a gallery and there is nothing on the walls but a small 3"x5" tag. On the tag it tells you the artist is lying naked on a shelf up high in the gallery on a bed of broken glass. The shelf is to high up to be able to see whats up there. The question you have is, (Is the artist really up there or are they down the street at the local pup hoisting a glass?) I can see some intrigue to this but still have a hard time accepting it as art, you?

Ronald,In my mind, that would not be accepted as art. Problem for me is nothing is really being created. A writer has a though (concept) and writes it down. A musician (puts it in sheet music or Plays the music) A painter(paints), A sculptor sculpts. etc. The conceptual artist does what again? besides having an idea and trying to tell us about it.

Conceptual (invisible) art a/k/a garbage art a/k/a fools art

Ronald, it seems to me that your work could be called concept art. You certainly must have a concept -- a goal in mind -- before you start it.

And at least your art looks like art. I have seen the art shows such as the one you describe above, and even worse. Those seem to be in fashion right now in Los Angeles.

"If I don't understand it, it must be magnificent art!"... or something like that.

Melissa, here is the thing, I tend to cut artist a fair amount of slack in what they do prior to just calling it garbage. Most artist I have known are sincere hardworking types. I agree with you in that it sounds quite outlandish and at least on the surface hard to accept but still I am wondering if there are conceptual artist on this site that have done stuff such as this and what their reasoning is?

Chuck, I think the show I described was in Los Angeles. I am from Southern California although I now live up in the Sacramento area. Most artist have a certain amount of what could be called concept within their art but I guess the difference is these artist don't seem to be making anything.

Or this, Chuck Staley: The importance of a work of conceptual art is directly proportional to the ease (or difficulty) with which the general public are capable of apprehending it.

"The idea becomes a machine that makes the art. ---- " i.e.; kind of like a 'Deus ex Machina,' wherein the idea lords over all like a god.

The point of the arbitrary example I gave in my initial post is that anyone calling him/herself a conceptual artist need only elaborate on the procedure for creating such a thing - such as an installation - lending itself freely to the possibility that anyone could recreate it (the irony inherent in my example is this: No one could recreate the 42 folds necessary to make Paper Moon and Beyond! Truth is, very few could even make it to 12).

i'm planning a huge conceptual art piece but it's in the beginning of the concept stage, so i have no idea what it's about... =>))

Yes. I think I only have a few pieces of art that did not begin with a concept.

The title for this thread came from a story I was told from a gallery owner down in Southern California. He said a person walked in to his gallery and said that they were a conceptual artist. He said " oh, do you have any ideas?" They turned around and walked out. Not sure what it all means but....

So, Ronald, you were just being ironic when you wrote, 'Conceptual Art, Any Ideas?

Life Loves Irony.

Yes but I am honestly trying to get a better grip on what and more importantly why conceptual artist do what they do. I have no desire to become a conceptual artist but am interested.

Patrick, just rereading your folded paper concept. The thing that strikes me there is that the only limitation is the mind. There are no physical limits.

To realize the concept of Paper Moon, one would have to keep folding the red sheet of construction paper until only individual atoms were being layered and stacked, one on top of the other, until the sheet had been folded in half 42 times, but it would have surpassed the Moon long before reaching it; therefore, this "art project" cannot be realized.

Again, life loves irony.

I once made a computer desk using a load of old computer parts built up around a shopping trolley base. It was a very cool, unique, interesting and highly functional desk. I used it for a few days... then took it to the local dump and threw it in a skip. I then went and bought a new desk from Argos.

Despite actually producing a tangible object.. the "art" wasn't complete until I threw it away!

Barry, love it!

A sheet of paper can only be folded 7 times.

I can fold mine thousands and thousands if I cared to.