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When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.

Sol LeWitt

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Sol LeWitt
Age: 78 †
Born: 1928
Born: September 9
Died: 2007
Died: April 8
Architect
Artist
Conceptual Artist
Drawer
Illustrator
Painter
Photographer
Sculptor
Hartford
Connecticut
Sol Le Witt
Sol Lewitt
Solomon Sol LeWitt
Ideas
Decision
Execution
Mean
Idea
Uses
Made
Use
Machine
Means
Planning
Artist
Affair
Makes
Decisions
Perfunctory
Art
Machines
Beforehand
Form
Becomes
Conceptual

More quotes by Sol LeWitt

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I wasn't really that interested in objects. I was interested in ideas.
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Most ideas that are successful are ludicrously simple
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Most ideas that are successful are ludicrously simple. Successful ideas generally have the appearance of simplicity because they seem inevitable. In terms of idea the artist is free to even surprise himself. Ideas are discovered by intuition.
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Just as the development of earth art and installation art stemmed from the idea of taking art out of the galleries, the basis of my involvement with public art is a continuation of wall drawings.
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Irrational judgements lead to new experience.
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All intervening steps, scribbles, sketches, drawings, failed work models, studies thoughts, conversations, are of interest. Those that show the thought process of the artist are sometimes more interesting than the final product
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A blind man can make art if what is in his mind can be passed to another mind in some tangible form.
Sol LeWitt
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Conceptual art is only good if the idea is good.
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Every generation renews itself in its own way there's always a reaction against whatever is standard.
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Obviously a drawing of a person is not a real person, but a drawing of a line is a real line.
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Artists teach critics what to think. Critics repeat what the artists teach them.
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Also, since art is a vehicle for the transmission of ideas through form, the reproduction of the form only reinforces the concept. It is the idea that is being reproduced. Anyone who understands the work of art owns it. We all own the Mona Lisa.
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Minimal art went nowhere.
Sol LeWitt
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New materials are one of the great afflictions of contemporary art. Some artists confuse new materials with new ideas.
Sol LeWitt
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Once it is out of his hand the artist has no control over the way a viewer will perceive the work. Different people will understand the same thing in a different way.
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The system is the work of art the visual work of art is the proof of the System. The visual aspect can't be understood without understanding the system. It isn't what it looks like but what it is that is of basic importance.
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I didn't want to save art - I respected the older artists too much to think art needed saving. But I knew it was finished, even though, at that time, I didn't know what I would do.
Sol LeWitt
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In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work
Sol LeWitt
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Artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.
Sol LeWitt
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During the '70s I was interested in words and meaning as a way of making art.
Sol LeWitt