History of CONCEPTUAL art – short summary!

It is usually considered as conceptual art to all that contemporary artistic trend in which the concept or idea is much more important than the form. A style in which the intellectual prevails over technique and material with all the freedom that it implies in terms of expressive methods. Thus, conceptual art ranges from music to visual arts, the happening or performing arts, among other means of expression.

In this lesson of unPROFESOR.com we tell you the concept art history and we review some of its main features.

He conceptual art It's that kind of art go beyond form to heed the idea. Therefore, the artist wants to capture the idea that he has in mind, no matter how much he shows it. That is, the content is more relevant than the form and what the artist wants is to convey a concept.

Before delving into the history of conceptual art, we suggest you review the concept art features so that you can distinguish their works and their hallmarks. Among the most outstanding characteristics we point out:

1. concept art use irony and parody to draw the attention of the viewers and make them think about the idea being presented.
2. This peculiarity obeys the artist's desire to focus on the idea, in the meaning, leaving materials and technique in the background. The work can be done with any object, material or combination of objects.
3. So, a conceptual work can be an object taken out of its context, an unfinished piece, a sketch, a photograph, a video, bodypainting or whatever you can get convey an idea or express or exemplify a thought or social, political or economic complaint, etc.
4. He viewer is also part of the work by requiring their collaboration and having to get involved in the interpretation or experimentation of it. In some conceptual works it is the spectator himself who sets them in motion, he has to participate in their staging or carry out an action that changes the final result.
5. concept art look for the controversy and the answer from the emotion by giving new meaning to common objects and surprising and shocking the public with a completely different meaning or use than usual. The ready made or found or everyday objects are one of the distinctive elements of conceptual art.

Conceptual art is considered as a artistic style developed during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, although it is considered that avant-garde artists from the beginning of the century already advanced in this line, especially the work of artists such as Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), a true precursor of conceptual art and one of the most influential names in 20th century art.

In the 60s of the 20th century we find ourselves with one of the great theorists and leaders of conceptual art, Joseph Kosuth (1945-). This author came to reject completely the traditional works of an ornamental type. In his theoretical work he goes back to duchamp and its ready madelike a real rartistic evolution and seed of conceptual art or abandonment of appearance for concept. Kosuth, an American artist, defined this style and its concepts, considering art scholars who This movement was born as opposition to the Vietnam War and the world that emerged after the Second World War.

On the other hand, it is estimated that conceptual art is a typically American and English style, the 1960s and 1970s being the peak of the movement. A style that was a reaction to the dominant formalism after World War II and that, although it came to an end in the 1980s, is still a current movement in contemporary art. Thus, it is considered to define as post-conceptual art all that artistic manifestation after the 80s.

In addition to Kosuth, within conceptual art we find other names such as Piero Manzoni (1933-1963), Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008), León Ferrari (1920-2013), John Cage (1912-1992), Yoko Ono (1933-) or Ai Wei Wei (1957-).

In unProfesor we discover the main representatives of conceptual art.