Tracing the issues and concerns of the first generation of artists involved in the foundation of the movement, this guide to conceptual art, includes an essay exploring the historical basis of conceptual art, and its relationship to the dominant aesthetics of the 1960s, namely the modernist theory of Clement Greenberg and his disciples.
The art of Michael Reiter (b. 1952; lives and works in Frankfurt am Main) is based on the principle of variability, which was pioneered in the 1960s by artists such as Charlotte Posenenske. Created with a saw, the unpretentious "Front and Rear Spiral" (2013) raises interesting questions about major aspects of contemporary sculpture and explores the relationship between surface and space. Without putting it down, Reiter uses a jigsaw to transform a thin piece of plywood, of which one side has clearly been painted black all over and the left completely untreated, into a continuous spiral shape. Expanding simultaneous view of both the front and rear: black and wood-colored areas alternate constantly in the spiral shape, coming to the fore and retreating, but are always visible at the same time. All photographs in this publication show one and the same sculpture, and one can assume that despite the complex diversity of form visible in the images, they far from exhaust the work's possibilities. With a contribution by Daniel Marzona.
Founded as a backlash against abstract expressionism, minimalism was characterized by simplified, stripped-down forms and materials used to express ideas in a direct and impersonal manner. By presenting objects as simple objects, minimal artists sought to communicate without referring to expressive or historical themes. This critical movement, which began in the 1960s and branched out into land art, performance art, and conceptual art, is still a major influence today. Featured artists: Carl Andre, Stephen Antonakos, Jo Baer, Larry Bell, Ronald Bladen, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Robert Grosvenor, Eva Hesse, Donald Judd, Gary Kuehn, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, John McCracken, Robert Morris, Robert Ryman, Fred Sandback, Richard Serra, Tony Smith, Robert Smithson, Anne Truitt.