What is conceptualism


Do you know what conceptualism is? This is one of the directions of scholastic philosophy. According to this doctrine, the manifestation of knowledge comes along with experience, but does not come from the experience gained. Conceptualism can also be thought of as a synthesis of rationalism with empiricism. This term comes from the Latin word conceptus, which means thought, concept. Despite the fact that this is a philosophical trend, it is also a cultural trend that arose in the 20th century.

Representatives of conceptualism

Pierre Abelard, two Johns – Duns Scotus and Salisbury, John Duns, John Locke – all these philosophers unite conceptualism. These are the philosophers who believe that the ideas common to all manifest themselves during the acquisition of experience by a private person. That is, until we come across this or that phenomenon, we do not understand the essence of this or that universal problem. For example, until we experience injustice, we do

not understand the very essence of justice. By the way, this theory has become widespread in the creative environment – conceptualism in art, in particular in painting. His brightest representative among artists is Joseph Kossuth, and among the musicians – Henry Flint.

Conceptual art

Joseph Kossuth explained the importance of this theory in the complete rethinking of the functioning of works of art and in general culture as a whole. He argued that art is the power of an idea, but in no way material. His composition “One Man and Three Stools”, which he finished in 1965, became a classic example of conceptualism. Conceptualism in painting refers not to the spiritual and emotional perception of what is depicted, but to the comprehension of what is seen through the intellect. In conceptual art, the concept of artistic works, whether a picture or a book, or a musical creation, is more important than its physical expression. This means that the main goal of art is precisely the transfer of thought, idea. By the way, the conceptual objects can be more modern types of works, for example, photographs,

Conceptualism

in Painting

As already noted, one of the most ideological representatives of this trend is the artist Marcel Duchamp (France). He for a long time prepared the “soil” for conceptualists, creating red-mades. The most famous of them was the “Fountain”, created by the artist in 1917, the episode. By the way, he was represented at an exhibition organized for independent artists in New York. What did Duchamp want to show with his work? The urinal is a common object used for sanitation purposes. If it is produced in a factory, then, of course, it can not be considered a work of art. However, if the creator, the artist, participated in its creation, the urinal ceases to be an ordinary object of everyday use, because it is unique, has aesthetic merit, and for its creation the idea was used. In a word, Conceptualism is the triumph of an idea over emotions. This makes this or that work valuable.

Russian conceptualism

This philosophical and artistic trend also took place in Russia, in particular in Moscow. It began in the unofficial art of the Soviet Union in the early 70s of the last century. However, the term Moscow conceptualism arose later, in 1979, with the light hand of Boris Groys, published in the magazine “From A to Z” an article titled “Romantic Moscow Conceptualism.” It has two branches: the literary and the analytic.

Examples of conceptual art

The first significant work in this direction, exhibited in 1953, is the work of Robert Rauschenberg’s “The Smoothed Figure of Queen”. Admit it, a strange name for an art sample. In addition, the question arises: who is the author of this work – Rauschenberg or Quing? The thing is that after some time after the creation of this drawing by Willem de Kooning, Robert Milton Ernest Rauschenberg erased it and presented it for his work. The essence of his action was dictated by the desire to challenge the idea of ​​traditional art. He was a supporter of redmeyda – the conceptual flow in painting, according to which it does not matter who is the original author, the final result is important, that is, the idea that is embedded in the created work. The most obvious example of red-maid are collages, collected from fragments of different works. Another representative of this trend, Yves Klein became the author of “Aerostatic sculpture of Paris.” To do this, he needed 1001 balloons and placed them in the sky over Paris. This was done to advertise the exhibition over Le Vide.

Conclusion

So, Marcel Duchamp is considered to be the founder of this current. It was he who proposed the definition that in art, not an object, but an idea is important. The final result, its aesthetics is not important, but it is important who is the author and what was the meaning of his idea. In short, conceptualism is a trend in painting, literature, music, art in general, in which the works are largely incomprehensible to the viewer, reader, listener, or they are perceived by each in a special way.


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What is conceptualism