Conceptual Art

10 Pages 2586 Words

id, and caused many to question the nature of art as well as the uniqueness of the art object. Conceptual art, in its’ broadest sense, was a complete negation of formalist modernism and in the wake of the rapidly changing, socio-economic and political environment of the 1960’s, successive and overlapping revolts from Pop Art to Post-Minimalism began to shape and redefine art as vehicle for ideas in what is known today as Conceptual Art. What follows is an attempt to chronologically re-examine the history of Conceptual Art from its immediate pre-history to the post-conceptualism that followed, and in doing so, this essay hopes to forge a clear understanding of the fundamental ideologies and critical issues of the movement as well as the significant impact it has had in the world of contemporary art.
In the mid-1950’s, artists began to shift their attention from the existential non-figurative paintings of Abstract Expressionism, which was at the forefront of formalist modernism, to an interest in the ordinary, and a use of subject matter derived from the everyday world. These impulses, which can clearly be seen in works such as “Bed” by Robert Rauschenberg (1955), and “Flag” by Jasper Johns (1954-55), led art towards the development of a movement referred to as Pop Art. The English Critic, Lawrence Alloway, first used the term ‘Pop Art’ in a 1958 issue of Architectural Digest to describe those paintings that, “celebrate post-war consumerism, defy the psychology of Abstract Expressionism, and worship the god of materialism.” 4 The 1950’s were a period of optimism in America. Consumer production of goods were in rabid surplus, and with the advent of the television popping up in every home in America, the advertising industry began to shape and re-define the culture of the 1960’s. In a significant departure from the emotionally charged styles of the abstract expressionists, artists such as Roy Lichtenstein...