"Conceptual Art" Assignment

All of these photos are of Duchamp's readymade art work.

1. Why is the "viewer" an important element in conceptual art?

-Conceptual art is all about the "idea". The cool thing is that we all bring our own baggage to the art and so when we lok at it we interpret it differently. Without viewers the point that the artist is trying to convey doesn't matter. I think that most conceptual art is out to change something about or in the world. The objective is to get people to really think about something.

2. Why was it so difficult for people to accept if "Fountian" by Duchamp, as art?

-Everyone was used to the cncervative definition of art. When Duchamp placed this urinal as a sculpture people had a hard time taking it out of context and looking purely at the asthetic values of the urinal. I think that people felt threatened to what they already believed as art and what could be art.

3. What question did Duchamp pose with his "readymades"? Explain with examples.

-Duchamp was questioning 'what is art'? Can a urinal be art. He is trying to force people to think about what their concept of art is and where it comes from. Most people's concept of art comes from what they see in a museum and so the fact that the urinal was in a museum it made people really think about what can be considered as a peice of art. Another example is Duchamp's LHOOQ (3). THis peice is the Mona Lisa with a beard. MOst people would see this a defacing artwork, but Duchamp wants to see if you can see this as a peice of art in it own right.

4. Why is it difficult to categorize Conceptual art in the context of Traditional art?

- For one thing Coneptual art can be anything from sculpture to painting to text. In traditional art there are paintings and there are sculptures, it is not hard to distinguish between these either. In this reading there are several definitions of Conceptual art and none of them have been 100% accepted by all, but they all agree that this type of art is all about idea and concept.

5. Choose a quote for the article that you find interesting and explain.

- "Conceptual art is not about forms or materials, but about ideas and meanings. It cannot be defined in terms of any medium of style, but rather by the way it questions what art is . . . it could be argued that the conceptual work of art only truely exists in the viewer's mental participation." (p. 1) I think that this quote pretty much answers most of the questions above. For me this is the best way to think about conceptual art when trying to understand what it really is. Conceptual art is all about geting an idea across to the viewer in a way that really makes you think. The viewer is essential for Conceptual art. If there was no viewer there would be no point. I also think that the artist has to keep the viewer in mind when creating this type of art. We all bring our own baggage to the art and that influences the way that we see the art.