"Conceptual artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach."
- Sol LeWitt
"Since no form is intrinsically superior to another, the artist may use any form, from an expression of words (written or spoken) to physical reality, equally.
If words are used, and they proceed from ideas about art, then they are art and not literature; numbers are not mathematics.
All ideas are art if they are concerned with art and fall within the conventions of art.
One usually understands the art of the past by applying the convention of the present, thus misunderstanding the art of the past.
The conventions of art are altered by works of art.
Successful art changes our understanding of the conventions by altering our perceptions."
- Sol LeWitt
If words are used, and they proceed from ideas about art, then they are art and not literature; numbers are not mathematics.
All ideas are art if they are concerned with art and fall within the conventions of art.
One usually understands the art of the past by applying the convention of the present, thus misunderstanding the art of the past.
The conventions of art are altered by works of art.
Successful art changes our understanding of the conventions by altering our perceptions."
- Sol LeWitt
ar·ti·fi·cial
– adj.
1. made by human skill; produced by humans.
2. imitation; simulated; sham.
3. lacking naturalness or spontaneity; forced; contrived; feigned.
4. full of affectation; affected; stilted.
5. made without regard to the particular needs of a situation, person, etc.; imposed arbitrarily; unnatural.
6. based on arbitrary, superficial characteristics rather than natural, organic relationships.
ar·ti·fice
– noun
1. a clever trick or stratagem; a cunning, crafty device or expedient; wile.
2. trickery; guile; craftiness.
3. cunning; ingenuity; inventiveness.
4. a skillful or artful contrivance or expedient.
ar·ti·fact
– noun
1. any object made by human beings, esp. with a view to subsequent use.
2. a handmade object, as a tool, or the remains of one, as a shard of pottery, characteristic of an earlier time or cultural stage, esp. such an object found at an archaeological excavation.
3. any mass-produced, usually inexpensive object reflecting contemporary society or popular culture.
4. a substance or structure not naturally present in the matter being observed but formed by artificial means, as during preparation of a microscope slide.
5. a spurious observation or result arising from preparatory or investigative procedures.
6. any feature that is not naturally present but is a product of an extrinsic agent, method, or the like.
art
– noun
1. the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
2. the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings.
3. the fine arts collectively, often excluding architecture.
4. skill in conducting any human activity.
5. skilled workmanship, execution, or agency, as distinguished from nature.
6. a branch of learning or university study, esp. one of the fine arts or the humanities, as music, philosophy, or literature.
7. trickery; cunning.
8. studied action; artificiality in behavior.
9. an artifice or artful device.
10. science, learning, or scholarship.
"Over there to the north, to the south, to the east, to the west, the birds turn in circles to draw the sun in the wind."
- Francis Picabia
- Francis Picabia
"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves."
- C.G. Jung
- C.G. Jung
dis·course
– noun
1. communication of thought by words; talk; conversation.
2. a formal discussion of a subject in speech or writing, as a dissertation, treatise, sermon, etc.
3. any unit of connected speech or writing longer than a sentence.
– verb
4. to communicate thoughts orally; talk; converse.
5. to treat of a subject formally in speech or writing.
6. to utter or give forth (musical sound).
dis·cur·sive
– adj.
1. passing aimlessly from one subject to another; digressive; rambling.
2. proceeding by reasoning or argument rather than intuition.
"Ideas can be works of art; they are in a chain of development that may eventually find some form. All ideas need not be made physical.
Ideas do not necessarily proceed in logical order. They may set one off in unexpected directions, but an idea must necessarily be completed in the mind before the next one is formed.
For each work of art that becomes physical there are many variations that do not.
A work of art may be understood as a conductor from the artist's mind to the viewer's. But it may never reach the viewer, or it may never leave the artist's mind."
- Sol LeWitt
Ideas do not necessarily proceed in logical order. They may set one off in unexpected directions, but an idea must necessarily be completed in the mind before the next one is formed.
For each work of art that becomes physical there are many variations that do not.
A work of art may be understood as a conductor from the artist's mind to the viewer's. But it may never reach the viewer, or it may never leave the artist's mind."
- Sol LeWitt
"When I am dead let this be said of me: 'He belonged to no school, to no church, to no institution, to no academy, least of all to any régime except the régime of liberty."
- Gustave Courbet
- Gustave Courbet
"Representation starts from the principle that the sign and the real are equivalent (even if this equivalence is Utopian, it is a fundamental axiom). Conversely, simulation starts from the Utopia of this principle of equivalence, from the radical negation of the sign as value, from the sign as reversion and death sentence of every reference. Whereas representation tries to absorb simulation by interpreting it as false representation, simulation envelops the whole edifice of representation as itself a simulacrum.
These would be the successive phases of the image:
1. It is the reflection of a basic reality.
2. It masks and perverts a basic reality.
3. It masks the absence of a basic reality.
4. It bears no relation to any reality whatever: it is its own pure simulacrum.
In the first case, the image is a good appearance: the representation is of the order of sacrament. In the second, it is an evil appearance: of the order of malefice. In the third, it plays at being an appearance: it is of the order of sorcery. In the fourth, it is no longer in the order of appearance at all, but of simulation."
- Jean Baudrillard
These would be the successive phases of the image:
1. It is the reflection of a basic reality.
2. It masks and perverts a basic reality.
3. It masks the absence of a basic reality.
4. It bears no relation to any reality whatever: it is its own pure simulacrum.
In the first case, the image is a good appearance: the representation is of the order of sacrament. In the second, it is an evil appearance: of the order of malefice. In the third, it plays at being an appearance: it is of the order of sorcery. In the fourth, it is no longer in the order of appearance at all, but of simulation."
- Jean Baudrillard
ei·do·lon
- noun
1. phantom; an apparition.
2. an image of an ideal.
3. an image or representation of anything.
4. an image of a divinity; a representation or symbol of a deity or any other being or thing, made or used as an object of worship; a similitude of a false god.
5. that on which the affections are strongly set; an object of passionate devotion; a person or thing greatly loved or adored.
6. a false notion or conception; a fallacy.
ca·thar·sis
– noun
1. the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, esp. through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.
2. purgation.
3. a. psychotherapy that encourages or permits the discharge of pent-up, socially unacceptable affects.
b. discharge of pent-up emotions so as to result in the alleviation of symptoms or the permanent relief of the condition.
ex·e·ge·sis
– noun
1. a critical explanation or analysis, especially of a text.
pa·thol·o·gy
- noun
1. the study of the essential nature of diseases and especially of the structural and functional changes produced by them.
2. the anatomic and physiological deviations from the normal that constitute disease or characterize a particular disease.
3. a treatise on or compilation of abnormalities.
feign
– verb
1. to represent fictitiously; put on an appearance of.
2. to invent fictitiously or deceptively, as a story or an excuse.
3. to imitate deceptively.
4. to make believe; pretend.
feint
- noun
1. a feigned attack designed to draw defensive action away from an intended target.
2. deceptive action calculated to divert attention from one's real purpose.
id·i·o·syn·cra·sy
– noun
1. a characteristic, habit, mannerism, or the like, that is peculiar to an individual.
2. the physical constitution peculiar to an individual.
3. a peculiarity of the physical or the mental constitution.
Mjol·nir
– noun
1. the hammer of Thor, used as a weapon against the Jotuns, heard as thunder by humans.
lo·cus
– noun
1. a place; locality.
2. a center or source, as of activities or power.
3. the set of all points, lines, or surfaces that satisfy a given requirement.
par·a·ble
– noun
1. a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson.
2. a statement or comment that conveys a meaning indirectly by the use of comparison, analogy, or the like.
al·le·go·ry
– noun
1. a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.
2. a symbolical narrative.
3. emblem.
em·blem
– noun
1. an object or its representation, symbolizing a quality, state, class, etc.; symbol.
2. a sign, design, or figure that identifies or represents something.
3. an allegorical picture, often inscribed with a motto supplemental to the visual image with which it forms a single unit of meaning.
4. an inlaid or tessellated ornament.
ap·o·logue
- noun
1. a moral fable, especially one having animals or inanimate objects as characters.
es·tu·ar·y
– noun
1. that part of the mouth or lower course of a river in which the river's current meets the sea's tide.
2. an arm or inlet of the sea at the lower end of a river.
lit·to·ral
– adj.
1. of or pertaining to the shore of a lake, sea, or ocean.
2. of or pertaining to the biogeographic region between the sublittoral zone and the high-water line and sometimes including the supralittoral zone above the high-water line.
3. of or pertaining to the region of freshwater lake beds from the sublittoral zone up to and including damp areas on shore.
or·tho·dox
– adj.
1. of, pertaining to, or conforming to the approved form of any doctrine, philosophy, ideology, etc.
2. of, pertaining to, or conforming to beliefs, attitudes, or modes of conduct that are generally approved.
3. customary or conventional, as a means or method; established.
4. sound or correct in opinion or doctrine, esp. theological or religious doctrine.
het·er·o·dox
– adj.
1. not in accordance with established or accepted doctrines or opinions, esp. in theology; unorthodox.
de·men·tia
– noun
1. severe impairment or loss of intellectual capacity and personality integration, due to the loss of or damage to neurons in the brain.
de·men·tia prae·cox
- noun
1. any of several psychotic disorders characterized by distortions of reality and disturbances of thought and language and withdrawal from social contact; schizophrenia.
psy·cho·sis
– noun
1. a mental disorder characterized by symptoms, such as delusions or hallucinations, that indicate impaired contact with reality.
2. any severe form of mental disorder, as schizophrenia or paranoia.
neu·ro·sis
– noun
1. a functional disorder in which feelings of anxiety, obsessional thoughts, compulsive acts, and physical complaints without objective evidence of disease, in various degrees and patterns, dominate the personality.
2. a personality disorder typified by excessive anxiety or indecision and a degree of social or interpersonal maladjustment.
schiz·o·phre·ni·a
– noun
1. a severe mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all, of the following features: emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations.
2. a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.
par·a·noi·a
– noun
1. a mental disorder characterized by systematized delusions and the projection of personal conflicts, which are ascribed to the supposed hostility of others, sometimes progressing to disturbances of consciousness and aggressive acts believed to be performed in self-defense or as a mission.
2. baseless or excessive suspicion of the motives of others; extreme, irrational distrust of others.
lu·na·tic
– noun
1. an insane person.
2. a person whose actions and manner are marked by extreme eccentricity or recklessness.
3. a person legally declared to be of unsound mind and who therefore is not held capable or responsible before the law.
– adj.
4. insane; demented; crazy.
5. characteristic or suggestive of lunacy; wildly or recklessly foolish.
6. designated for or used by the insane.
7. mad, frivolous, eccentric, etc.
doom
– noun
1. fate or destiny, esp. adverse fate; unavoidable ill fortune.
2. ruin; death.
3. a judgment, decision, or sentence, esp. an unfavorable one.
4. the Last Judgment, at the end of the world.
5. a statute, enactment, or legal judgment.
– verb
6. to destine, esp. to an adverse fate.
7. to pronounce judgment against; condemn.
8. to ordain or fix as a sentence or fate.
im·pre·cate
– verb
1. to invoke or call down evil or curses, as upon a person.
ap·o·tro·pa·ism
– noun
1. the use of magic and ritualistic ceremony to anticipate and prevent evil.
Moi·rae
- noun
1. any of the three Greek goddesses of fate or destiny.
Clo·tho
– noun
1. the Fate who spins the thread of life.
Lach·e·sis
– noun
1. the Fate who determines the length of the thread of life.
At·ro·pos
- noun
1. the Fate who cuts the thread of destiny.
fu·ry
– noun
1. unrestrained or violent anger, rage, passion, or the like.
2. violence; vehemence; fierceness.
3. a fierce and violent person, esp. a woman.
4. Furies, female divinities: the daughters of Gaea who punished crimes at the instigation of the victims.
E·rin·y·es
- noun
1. the hideous snake-haired monsters (usually three in number) who pursued unpunished criminals.
2. an avenging deity; conscience personified.
3. "the Furies."
Eu·men·i·des
– noun
1. a euphemistic name for the Furies.
2. “the Kindly Ones.”
mag·pie
– noun
1. either of two corvine birds, Pica Pica, of Eurasia and North America, or Pica Nuttalli, of California, having long, graduated tails, black-and-white plumage, and noisy, mischievous habits.
2. any of several related corvine birds.
3. any of several black-and-white birds not related to the true magpies, as Gymnorhina Tibicen, of Australia.
4. an incessantly talkative person; noisy chatterer; chatterbox.
5. a person who collects or hoards things, esp. indiscriminately.
wake
– verb
1. to become roused from sleep; awake; awaken; waken.
2. to become roused from a tranquil or inactive state.
3. to become cognizant or aware of something.
4. to be or continue to be awake.
5. to remain awake for some purpose, duty, etc.
6. to hold a wake over a corpse.
7. to keep watch or vigil.
8. to rouse from sleep.
9. to rouse from lethargy, apathy, ignorance, etc.
10. to hold a wake for or over a dead person.
11. to keep watch or vigil over.
– noun
12. a watching, or a watch kept, esp. for some solemn or ceremonial purpose.
13. a watch or vigil by the body of a dead person before burial, sometimes accompanied by feasting or merrymaking.
14. the track of waves left by a ship or other object moving through the water.
15. the path or course of anything that has passed or preceded.
id·i·om
– noun
1. an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, or from the general grammatical rules of a language, and that is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics.
2. a language, dialect, or style of speaking peculiar to a people.
3. a construction or expression of one language whose parts correspond to elements in another language but whose total structure or meaning is not matched in the same way in the second language.
4. the peculiar character or genius of a language.
5. a distinct style or character, in music, art, etc.
A·nu·bis
– noun
1. the god of tombs and weigher of the hearts of the dead: represented as having the head of a jackal.
tomb
– noun
1. an excavation in earth or rock for the burial of a corpse; grave.
2. a mausoleum, burial chamber, or the like.
3. a monument for housing or commemorating a dead person.
4. any sepulchral structure.
– verb
5. to place in or as if in a tomb; entomb; bury.
grave
– noun
1. an excavation made in the earth in which to bury a dead body.
2. any place of interment; a tomb or sepulcher.
3. any place that becomes the receptacle of what is dead, lost, or past.
4. death.
– adj.
5. serious or solemn; sober.
6. weighty, momentous, or important.
7. threatening a seriously bad outcome or involving serious issues; critical.
8. a. unaccented.
b. spoken on a low or falling pitch.
c. noting or having a particular accent indicating originally a comparatively low pitch, distinct syllabic value, etc.
9. dull; somber.
se·pul·chral
– adj.
1. of, pertaining to, or serving as a tomb.
2. of or pertaining to burial.
3. proper to or suggestive of a tomb; funereal or dismal.
4. hollow and deep.
"What is real is not the external form, but the essence of things. It is impossible for anyone to express anything essentially real by imitating its exterior surface."
- Constantin Brâncuşi
- Constantin Brâncuşi
map
– noun
1. a representation, usually on a flat surface, as of the features of an area of the earth or a portion of the heavens, showing them in their respective forms, sizes, and relationships according to some convention of representation.
2. a delineation, representation, or reflection of anything.
– verb
3. to represent or delineate on.
4. to sketch or plan.
Or·phe·us
– noun
1. a legendary Thracian poet and musician whose music had the power to move even inanimate objects, a son of Calliope, who followed his dead wife, Eurydice, to the underworld. By charming Hades, he obtained permission to lead her away, provided he did not look back at her until they returned to earth. But at the last moment he looked, and she was lost to him forever
Or·phic
– adj.
1. of or pertaining to Orpheus.
2. resembling the music attributed to Orpheus; entrancing.
3. pertaining to a religious or philosophical school maintaining a form of the cult of Dionysus, or Bacchus, ascribed to Orpheus as founder.
4. mystic; oracular.
tel·e·ol·o·gy
– noun
1. the doctrine that final causes exist.
2. the study of the evidences of design or purpose in nature.
3. such design or purpose.
4. the belief that purpose and design are a part of or are apparent in nature.
5. the doctrine that phenomena are guided not only by mechanical forces but that they also move toward certain goals of self-realization.
the·os·o·phy
– noun
1. any of various forms of philosophical or religious thought based on a mystical insight into the divine nature.
ob·so·lete
– adj.
1. no longer in general use; fallen into disuse.
2. of a discarded or outmoded type; out of date.
3. no longer in use, esp., out of use for at least the past century.
4. effaced by wearing down or away.
5. imperfectly developed or rudimentary in comparison with the corresponding character in other individuals, as of the opposite sex or of a related species.
ob·tuse
– adj.
1. not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect; not sensitive or observant; dull.
2. not sharp, acute, or pointed; blunt in form.
3. rounded at the extremity.
4. indistinctly felt or perceived, as pain or sound.
bat
– noun
1. any of numerous flying mammals of the order Chiroptera, of worldwide distribution in tropical and temperate regions, having modified forelimbs that serve as wings and are covered with a membranous skin extending to the hind limbs.
- idioms
2. blind as a bat, nearly or completely blind; having very poor vision.
3. have bats in one's belfry, to have crazy ideas; be very peculiar, erratic, or foolish.
bob·cat
– noun
1. a North American wildcat, Lynx Rufus, ranging from southern Canada to central Mexico, having a reddish-brown fur coat with black spots, tufted ears, and a short tail.
per·jure
– verb
1. to render oneself guilty of swearing falsely or of willfully making a false statement under oath or solemn affirmation.
oath
– noun
1. a solemn appeal to a deity, or to some revered person or thing, to witness one's determination to speak the truth, to keep a promise, etc.
2. a statement or promise strengthened by such an appeal.
3. a formally affirmed statement or promise accepted as an equivalent of an appeal to a deity or to a revered person or thing; affirmation.
4. the form of words in which such a statement or promise is made.
5. an irreverent or blasphemous use of the name of God or anything sacred.
6. any profane expression; curse; swearword.
to·tem
– noun
1. a natural object or an animate being, as an animal or bird, assumed as the emblem of an individual, clan, family, or group.
2. an object or natural phenomenon with which a family or individual considers itself closely related.
3. a representation of such an object serving as the distinctive mark of the clan or group.
4. anything serving as a distinctive, often venerated, emblem or symbol.
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