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One of the earliest and most famous conceptual artworks is \u201cFountain\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] The artist’s chosen actions enhance the dignity of the work of art. \u201d This philosophy influenced the heyday of conceptual art in the 1960s and early \u201970s. At the time, artists such as Lawrence Weiner, Sol LeWitt, and Lee Lozano opposed the commercialization of art by creating works that existed primarily as explanations and ideas. It didn’t really matter whether it took physical form or not. Darren Bader, 48, one of the genre’s main proponents today, whose works include heroin-infused lasagna and butter-soaked Letters to Tom Hanks, has selected five pieces of conceptual art that capture the spirit of what he describes as “the mind is a palace, regardless of its limitations.” <\/p>\n
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[0–>Marcel Duchamp\u2019s \u201c3 Standard Stoppages\u201d (1913-14, replica 1964).<\/span> [-1–>[0–>Christie’s Images\/Bridgeman Images<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u20183 Standard Stoppages\u2019 (1913-14) by Marcel Duchamp<\/em><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/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
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[0–>Yoko Ono\u2019s \u201cGrapefruit\u201d (1964).<\/span> [-1–>[0–>Digital image \u00a9 The Museum of Modern Art\/Licensed by SCALA\/Art Resource, N.Y.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u2018Grapefruit\u2019 (1964) by Yoko Ono<\/em><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Japanese-born, New York-based artist 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
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[0–>Sturtevant\u2019s \u201cStudy for Yvonne Rainer\u2019s \u2018Three Seascapes\u2019 \u201d (1967).<\/span> [-1–>[0–>Peter Moore \u00a9 Northwestern University, Peter Moore Photography Archive<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u2018Study for Yvonne Rainer\u2019s \u201cThree Seascapes\u201d\u2009\u2019 (1967) by Sturtevant<\/em><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bader describes Elaine Sturtevant \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 in which the performer runs around in a black overcoat to [music by Sergei] Rachmaninoff moves in slow motion undulations and ends with a scream. This performance remains largely legendary to this day.<\/p>\n
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[0–>Robert Barry\u2019s \u201cInert Gas Series: Helium, From a Measured Volume to Indefinite Expansion\u201d (1969).<\/span> [-1–>[0–>Courtesy of Robert Barry and Galerie Greta Meert<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u2018Inert Gas Series\/Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon\/From a Measured Volume to Indefinite Expansion\u2019 (1969) by Robert Barry<\/em><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In 1969, Barry 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
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[0–>The two volumes of On Kawara\u2019s \u201cOne Million Years\u201d (1999).<\/span> [-1–>[0–>\u00a9 One Million Years Foundation<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[0–>\u201cPast,\u201d the first volume of Kawara\u2019s \u201cOne Million Years.\u201d<\/span> [-1–>[0–>\u00a9 One Million Years Foundation<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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