What is conceptual art?

For anyone that's read my last post, it probably makes a little more sense why my Instagram page is filled with strange excerpts of dada poetry, wreckless scrawlings and light drawings. I know: poetry! Through a lot of research and experimentation, I've begun to refine my ideas into imagery that I like the look of. Honestly, I'm relieved. Conceptual art is extremely challenging to understand, never mind to actually produce. It's required me to quite literally do a Henry Krokatsis and lose all of my ego, and it's one of the most challenging things I've done!

On the topic of conceptual art, I've been having a lot of debates recently about firstly what it is, what it means, and the importance of it. For anyone that doesn't have a clue what I'm talking about, you must watch BBC's Who'a Afraid of Conceptual Art, I found it on YouTube and I found it really useful in fully getting my head around understanding artworks, and also applying it in my own work.

Some people struggle with work like this and would often say "I could have done this", "my CHILD could have done this" and "how on Earth is this art?". Having loved art from a young age, I persevered in my belief that one day I would understand the logic behind Kandinsky's colour studies, Marcel DuChamp's 'Fountain' and Martin Creed's scrunched up pieces of paper. 

Finally, not only can I say I understand and appreciate conceptual artwork, but I've even begun to create some of my own.

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917

Conceptual art is the creation of artwork that is dependent on an idea as oppose to the overall aesthetic of the piece. Coming about properly in around the 1960s, conceptual art was controversial and it did challenge traditional views of what art should look like and what it should communicate. This contemporary style of art opened the doors to new methods, new ideas and basically a whole new view of what art can be. The reason I'm so interested in this new and strange way of making artwork is because I'm excited by what we are capable of getting away with as modern day artists: 

"Art is what you can get away with" Marshall McLuhan

An artists' work who I particularly enjoy is the work of Martin Creed, who I've mentioned in my earlier posts but I honestly just can't seem to get enough of him at the moment! Having heard about the exhibition opening at my local gallery through college, I didn't initially think much of his work before I saw and learnt more about it. He works as a conceptual artist in London and works with a variety of medias such as film, paint, sculpture and installation.

One work that always comes to mind is Creed's 'Lights Going On and Off" which is quite literally a room with the lights going on and off. I'm embarrassed to admit that when I first visited the exhibition, I honestly thought there was a problem with the lights! (The Harris is an old building, forgive me). On reading and researching further on Creed's work, I began to understand the importance of this piece. The disorientating, confused and quite frankly underwhelmed feeling you experience when entering the empty, white space is exactly what Creed wanted us to experience. By taking an empty gallery space where in which people would expect to be filled with artwork, Creed automatically creates a curiosity, a confusion. Rather than the inclusion of objects, Creed strips us of everything we might consider a clue, and he leaves us to ponder the importance of a light going off in a room. The artist transcends and almost ridicules the normal boundaries of what art can be, and asks us to consider something more than a painting or a beautiful sculpture. There is something humorous about the amount of confused and perhaps even disappointed spectators that visited and failed to understand the complex simplicity of Creed's work. There is something even more humorous about the fact that this piece of work is estimated to be sold at about £110,000 too. I know: anyone could set up a light to go on and off in a gallery, right? The answer to that, in my opinion, is no one else dared.

 An isolated spectator, I felt threatened standing in the middle of an empty space, unsure whether I was supposed to be stood there. It's the creation of an experience, the assemblage of emotions and an opportunity to examine what it means to experience your own existence. For me, the work is a contradiction of looking deeper yet not looking too far past the surface. The work deliberately disorientates and confuses us because we expect to find a deeper meaning and skill.The truth is the talent, skill and quite frankly nerve of the artwork is what makes him one of the most prominent artists today. Working in a minimalist style, Creed uses simplistic every day items and makes them into something new, and therefore forcing us to view things in a different and new way. Many people have criticised Creed for winning the Turner prize in 2001 for this work, but no one can deny that at the very least, this man has a great deal of power, nerve and imagination for creating such a stir in the art world. 

This is just one of the many conceptual artworks that I really admire because of the challenging and thought provoking approach taken. I really like Creed's light hearted and carefree attitude and it really resonates with my current project exploring the idea of freedom as a child and the loss of an ego. Conceptual art is important to me because it highlights the importance of an idea, it speaks the truth and it allows us to view things in a new and different way. It is challenging, humorous, stupid, ridiculous and beautiful all at the same time.

Images: Helsvig, S. (2015). Ti spørsmål: Martin Creed. [online] Kunstkritikk. Available at: http://www.kunstkritikk.no/artikler/ti-sporsmal-martin-creed/ [Accessed 4 May 2017].
YurTopic. (2012). YurTopic - Entertaining and Educational Top List Articles. [online] Available at: http://www.yurtopic.com/ [Accessed 4 May 2017].