{"id":591146,"date":"2026-04-18T05:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T05:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/591146\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T05:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T05:28:10","slug":"conceptual-art-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/591146\/","title":{"rendered":"Conceptual Art: What You Need to Know About the Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to
Be Cultured<\/a> Menu Art <\/p>\n

One of the earliest and most famous conceptual artworks is \u201cFountain<\/a>\u201d by Marcel Duchamp: a porcelain urinal the artist submitted to an exhibition in 1917. (It didn\u2019t make the cut.) Duchamp believed that \u201ceveryday objects [could be] raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist\u2019s act of choice.\u201d This philosophy would inform conceptual art\u2019s heyday in the 1960s and early \u201970s, when artists, including Lawrence Weiner<\/a>, Sol LeWitt<\/a> and Lee Lozano<\/a>, pushed against art\u2019s commercialization by creating work that existed primarily as a description or an idea; whether it took on a physical form was far less important. Darren Bader<\/a>, 48, one of the leading contemporary proponents of the genre, whose body of work includes a piece of lasagna injected with heroin and a letter to Tom Hanks dipped in butter, selected five works of conceptual art that capture its ethos, which he describes as \u201cThe mind is a palace, no matter its limitations.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Marcel Duchamp\u2019s \u201c3 Standard Stoppages\u201d (1913-14, replica 1964). Christie’s Images\/Bridgeman Images<\/p>\n

\u20183 Standard Stoppages\u2019 (1913-14) by Marcel Duchamp<\/p>\n

Duchamp once described \u201c3 Standard Stoppages\u201d \u2014 completed three years before \u201cFountain\u201d \u2014 as \u201ca joke about the meter.\u201d Its skepticism of authority and embrace of chance are characteristic of conceptual art: Duchamp dropped three one-meter-long threads onto canvas; each one landed in a different configuration, which he summarily called a new unit of measurement. Then he glued each thread to the surface and cut along the curves, creating three outlandish rulers. \u201cWhen you see the stoppage forms masquerading as serious art objects, you\u2019re unlikely to get the joke,\u201d Bader says. \u201cI\u2019ve always thought of \u2018standard\u2019 as an adjective, but if it\u2019s a metonym for \u2018meter,\u2019 a noun, the title\u2019s not so funny anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yoko Ono\u2019s \u201cGrapefruit\u201d (1964). Digital image \u00a9 The Museum of Modern Art\/Licensed by SCALA\/Art Resource, N.Y.<\/p>\n

\u2018Grapefruit\u2019 (1964) by Yoko Ono<\/p>\n

The Japanese-born, New York-based artist<\/a> self-published \u201cGrapefruit\u201d two years before she met John Lennon. The book \u2014 printed on inexpensive paper and small enough to fit in a handbag \u2014 collects instructions-as-artworks that Ono composed between 1953 and 1964. They range from the impossibly whimsical (\u201cSend a smell to the moon\u201d) to the whimsically concrete (\u201cPolish an orange\u201d). \u201c\u2009\u2018Life is beautiful\u2019 isn\u2019t such an opulent assumption when seen through Ono\u2019s keen and kind lens,\u201d Bader says.<\/p>\n

Sturtevant\u2019s \u201cStudy for Yvonne Rainer\u2019s \u2018Three Seascapes\u2019 \u201d (1967). Peter Moore \u00a9 Northwestern University, Peter Moore Photography Archive<\/p>\n

\u2018Study for Yvonne Rainer\u2019s \u201cThree Seascapes\u201d\u2009\u2019 (1967) by Sturtevant<\/p>\n

Bader describes Elaine Sturtevant<\/a> \u2014 who used only her ex-husband\u2019s last name professionally \u2014 as \u201cartist, moniker, cipher, zealot.\u201d The artist spent much of her career reproducing and recreating the work of other (mostly male) artists. Some accused her of copying, though her versions always differed slightly from the originals, but Andy Warhol got it immediately; he even allowed her to borrow the screen he used for his 1964 \u201cFlowers\u201d series, which she used to make her own \u201cWarhol Flowers\u201d later that year. For Bader, the essential Sturtevant work is this little-known version of an avant-garde dance piece by the choreographer Yvonne Rainer<\/a> in which the performer runs around in a black overcoat to [music by Sergei] Rachmaninoff, moves in slow-motion undulations and concludes with a screaming fit. The performance survives today mostly as legend.<\/p>\n

Robert Barry\u2019s \u201cInert Gas Series: Helium, From a Measured Volume to Indefinite Expansion\u201d (1969). Courtesy of Robert Barry and Galerie Greta Meert<\/p>\n

\u2018Inert Gas Series\/Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon\/From a Measured Volume to Indefinite Expansion\u2019 (1969) by Robert Barry<\/p>\n

In 1969, Barry<\/a> released five noble gases \u2014 helium, neon, argon, krypton and xenon \u2014 into the air around Los Angeles. The art dealer and lawyer Seth Siegelaub, who helped execute many important works of conceptual art, published a poster advertising the work without listing a location or date. (The phone number went to a recorded description of Barry\u2019s action.) \u201cRobert Barry\u2019s \u2018Inert Gas Series\u2019 has always been my default reference when summoning the quasi-quintessence of the essence I often pine for,\u201d Bader says. <\/p>\n

The two volumes of On Kawara\u2019s \u201cOne Million Years\u201d (1999). \u00a9 One Million Years Foundation<\/p>\n

\u201cPast,\u201d the first volume of Kawara\u2019s \u201cOne Million Years.\u201d \u00a9 One Million Years Foundation<\/p>\n

\u2018One Million Years\u2019 (1999) by On Kawara<\/p>\n

The Japanese artist<\/a> \u2014 whom Bader calls a \u201ccanonic calendar fetishist\u201d \u2014 developed inventive ways to explore the passage of time in his art. The first volume, \u201cPast,\u201d of Kawara\u2019s book \u201cOne Million Years\u201d (which actually covers two million years) is a list of the years from 998,031 B.C. to A.D. 1969; the second spans 1993 to 1,001,992. Live readings have been held at museums and galleries around the world, although it would take 100 years to read the whole thing aloud. Bader describes \u201cOne Million Years\u201d as \u201cMaterial tedium meets the breadth of the imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n

More in Art <\/p>\n

American Land Art<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Holt\/Smithson Foundation and Dia Art Foundation\/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, courtesy of Holt\/Smithson Foundation. Photo: Nancy Holt<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Essential Museum Works<\/p>\n

On loan from His Majesty the King, Royal Collection Trust\/\u00a9 2023 His Majesty King Charles III<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Is It Surreal?<\/p>\n

Roberto Montenegro, \u201cThe Double\u201d (1938). Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Masks<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Innovations in Painting<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Postwar Art<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Essential Pottery<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Painting Movements<\/p>\n

Collection of the National Palace Museum<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Intangible Art<\/p>\n

Pierre Huyghe, \u201cUntilled (Liegender Frauenakt)\u201d (2012). \u00a9 2026 Pierre Huyghe\/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, courtesy of Art Gallery of Ontario. Photo: AGO<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

What Is Performance Art?<\/p>\n

Marina Abramovi\u0107 performing \u201cThe Artist Is Present\u201d at the Museum of Modern Art in 2010. Digital image \u00a9 The Museum of Modern Art\/Licensed by SCALA\/Art Resource, N.Y.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Notorious Controversies<\/p>\n

Robert Mapplethorpe, \u201cJoe, NYC, 1978\u201d \u00a9 Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, used with permission<\/p>\n

<\/a> See the rest of the issue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How to Be Cultured Menu Art One of the earliest and most famous conceptual artworks is \u201cFountain\u201d by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1029,228,226,227,258145,141969,229,258137,258141,88,258143,258138,258144,258139,258142,210663,257926,258140],"class_list":{"0":"post-591146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-bader","13":"tag-darren","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-duchamp","16":"tag-elaine-1924-2014","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-kawara","19":"tag-marcel","20":"tag-on-1932-2014","21":"tag-ono","22":"tag-robert-barry","23":"tag-sturtevant","24":"tag-tculture2026","25":"tag-yoko"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}