A work of art may be understood as a conductor from the artist's mind to the viewer's. But it may never reach the viewer, or it may never leave the artist's mind.
Sol LewittRead
All of the significant art of today stems from Conceptual art. This includes the art of installation, political, feminist and socially directed art.
Interpretation
Conceptual art is the foundation for much of today's significant art, influencing various movements.
In this quote, Sol Lewitt emphasizes the pivotal role of Conceptual art as the underlying source of contemporary artistic expressions. He suggests that many modern artistic forms, such as installation art and those addressing political, feminist, and social issues, have evolved from the ideas and principles established by Conceptual art, highlighting its transformative impact on the art world.
In practice
In a lecture discussing the evolution of art movements, this quote could illustrate the foundational role of Conceptual art.
A work of art may be understood as a conductor from the artist's mind to the viewer's. But it may never reach the viewer, or it may never leave the artist's mind.
Once it is out of his hand the artist has no control over the way a viewer will perceive the work. Different people will understand the same thing in a different way.
The system is the work of art; the visual work of art is the proof of the System. The visual aspect can't be understood without understanding the system. It isn't what it looks like but what it is that is of basic importance.
Artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.
Buying books was a way anyone could acquire a work of art for very little.
Unless you're involved with thinking about what you're doing, you end up doing the same thing over and over, and that becomes tedious and, in the end, defeating.
A lot can be said with just a look, or the way the body moves. Each song is a different character. So each song takes on a different movement of the body. And the body has to go with the subject and the attitude that you have toward that subject.
Because I cannot work except in solitude, it is necessary that I live my work and that is impossible except in solitude.
Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter.
I don't want to analyze myself or anything, but I think, in fact I know this to be true, that I enter the world through what I write. I grew up believing, and continue to believe, that I am a screw-up, that growing up with my family and friends, I had nothing to offer in any conversation. But when I started writing, suddenly there was something that I brought to the party that was at a high-enough level.
Like a cartoon world, where the figures are flat and outlined in black, jerking through some kind of goofy story that might be real funny if it weren't for the cartoon figures being real guys.
An abstract painting need in 50 years by no means look "abstract" any longer.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.