Conceptual Art

What is Conceptualism?

Conceptualism is where an artist will focus more on the concept and the development of the piece rather than the final piece. the final piece will be representative of the concept and the idea therefore can often be quite odd or very simple as it is not considered as important.

History

Conceptualism started as a philosophy not an art form in the 20^th centaury, questioning the meaning of art, what we take for granted and that the concept and idea is more important than the final outcome.

Conceptual art doesn’t have to be traditional art, it can be a performance or something abstract.  It is the rehearsals and the preparation that are important as the concept and only the scripts and photos remain to show for the work.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

An example of this is Christo and Jeanne-Claude, they became famous for their wrapped up buildings, trees and coastlines.  Their first creation, was a coastline in Australia, they progressed to trees, walkways and world famous buildings. They work closely with photographers to ensure their work is documented in a beautiful creative way which will reflect their work and evidence what they had done.

 I love how the tress have a dreamy bubble around them , they lock really interesting and beautiful with the light shining through the material. 

Conceptualism to some is not art, people don’t understand how something so simple and strange can be art. I feel the same in some cases like Tracy Emin, there is little skill in creating a messy bed or moving a beach hut to a gallery, any one could do the same. Although It is subjective to the artist, some conceptual art is just a wacky but shows creativity and ideas like Christo and Jeanne-Cluades work above.

Tracy Emin

Tracy Emin is a conceptual artist who’s work is very abstract and controversial. She was born I Croydon and brought up in Margate. In 1980 to 1982 he studied fashion at Medway College of Design.  In 1983 she opened a shop with artist Sarah Lucas where they sold their work. It was simply called the shop. Although she was well known in art circles she was not well known to the public until she appeared on TV in 1997. Tracy Emin worked with both art and photography.

I do however like this Tent, i think it shows something about the artist herself, her ideas and her skills as an artist 

Conceptualism was a rebellion against very contemporary art and a commercial world.