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Conceptual Art

CONCEPTUAL STYLE

In 1967, artist Sol LeWitt wrote that in “Conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.” He was giving a name to an art movement that had emerged in the 1960s in which artists were less focused on their medium being something traditionally “artistic” and instead engaged in using any object, movement, form, action or place to express an idea.

LeWitt’s work was featured alongside an assemblage of notes, drawings and outlines by other artists in “Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art,” a groundbreaking show at New York City’s School of Visual Arts curated by Mel Bochner, another leading exponent of Conceptualism. Building on radical 20th-century statements, like Fountain (1917) by French artist Marcel Duchamp, Conceptual artists around Europe and North and South America were not interested in the commercial art scene and rather directly challenged its systems and values.

Stretching into the 1970s, this movement has also been called Post-Object art and Dematerialized art. Conceptual art reflected a larger era of social and political upheaval. Pieces associated with the style range from Roelof Louw’s Soul City (Pyramid of Oranges) (1967) — a work of installation art that sees fresh oranges stacked into a pyramid from which visitors are allowed to take one orange away — to On Kawara’s “Today” series, which saw the Japanese artist carefully painting a date in white acrylic on canvases consisting of a single color from 1966 to his death in 2014. Artists such as Ed Ruscha, who created the Twentysix Gasoline Stations book — a collection of photos of gas stations that is widely said to be the first modern artists’ book — made photography a major platform for Conceptual art, as did Bruce Nauman, who burned one of Ruscha's books and then photographed it for his own.

Conceptual art’s legacy of questioning artistic authorship, ownership and how to work with complex ideas of space and time had a significant influence on the decades of culture that followed, and it continues to inform art today.

The collection of Conceptual photography, paintings and sculptures on 1stDibs includes artworks by John Baldessari, Jenny Holzer, Lawrence Weiner, Joseph Kosuth and others.

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Style: Conceptual
Parterre de Latone Fountain, Versailles

Parterre de Latone Fountain, Versailles

By Reinhard Görner

Located in Los Angeles, CA

40 x 60 inches ed. of 10 $6,000 50 x 75 inches ed. of 5 $9,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Reinhard Görner, with his large format photographs orchestrates the monumentalit...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Red Staircase, Lello Bookshop, Portugal

Red Staircase, Lello Bookshop, Portugal

By Reinhard Görner

Located in Los Angeles, CA

50 x 52 inches ed. of 10 $6,000 60 x 62.4 inches ed. of 7 $9,000 70 x 72.8 inches ed. of 5 $11,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Reinhard Görner, with his large format phot...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

Lambda

Fingerprint 3
Fingerprint 3

Fingerprint 3

By Jozef Bajus

Located in Buffalo, NY

An original mixed media woven paper and staple wall sculpture by Jozef Bajus. This work can be acquired in a shadow box frame presentation for an additional $350.

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Villa Adriana II, Tivoli, Italy

Villa Adriana II, Tivoli, Italy

By Reinhard Görner

Located in Los Angeles, CA

60 x 40 inches ed. of 10 $6,000 75 x 50 inches ed. of 7 $9,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Reinhard Görner, with his large format photographs orchestrates the monumentali...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Moon over a Mayo Landscape - Mysterious Moonlit Photograph, Framed (or unframed)
Moon over a Mayo Landscape - Mysterious Moonlit Photograph, Framed (or unframed)

Moon over a Mayo Landscape - Mysterious Moonlit Photograph, Framed (or unframed)

By Paul Kenny

Located in London, GB

A moon shrouded in shadows emits a mystical glow, illuminating an enigmatic landscape… A mysterious moonlit scene, evoking depth and tranquility amidst shadowy green hues…. An abstr...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Color, Archival Pigment

Morgan Library II, New York
Morgan Library II, New York

Morgan Library II, New York

By Reinhard Görner

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Morgan Library II New York 50 x 62.4 inches ed. of 10 $6,000 60 x 74.9 inches ed. of 7 $9,000 70 x 87.5 inches ed. of 5 $11,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Paper is trim...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

C Print, Lambda

"Untitled 2.21" Photography 24' x 16' inch Edition of 15 by García De Marina

"Untitled 2.21" Photography 24' x 16' inch Edition of 15 by García De Marina

By García De Marina

Located in Culver City, CA

"Untitled 2.21" Photography 24' x 16' inch Edition of 15 by García De Marina García de Marina was born in Gijón (Spain) in 1975. He emerged thru a deep transformation in 2010. A do...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Matthew Barney, Cremaster 5: Her Giant, 1997
Matthew Barney, Cremaster 5: Her Giant, 1997

Matthew Barney, Cremaster 5: Her Giant, 1997

By Matthew Barney

Located in Madrid, MD

Matthew Barney, Cremaster 5: Her Giant, 1997 C-print mounted under Plexiglas Signed and dated by the artist, with artist’s stamp on verso Edition: 6 of 6 An iconic work by American ...

Category

1990s Conceptual Art

Materials

Silicone, Synthetic Resin

Untitled - Contemporary, 21st Century, Polaroid, Portrait Photography

Untitled - Contemporary, 21st Century, Polaroid, Portrait Photography

By xulong zhang

Located in Morongo Valley, CA

'Untitled' 2014 - 8.5cm x 8.5cm. Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival Print, based on a Polaroid SX-70 B&W Negative Scanning. Signed, embossed stamp and artist certificate. Not mounted. Short Bio: Xulong Zhang has been engaged in fashion portrait photography for 30 years and loves Polaroid photography. In 2000, he began to develop Polaroid photography and traveled to 34 countries for his photography. Vita: 1999 Has won the title “Ten Elites” in the 3rd China Portrait Photography. 2000 Named the World Chinese Artist, known as “The Prince of Album” 2001 September, CCTV special report on “Zhang Xulong’s Body Art Photography” gained strong feedback from the community. 2002 January, published “Strategies for Commercial Portrait Photograph” by Zhejiang Photography Publishing. 2002 February, launched the concept of “Tang Yun” and greatly accepted by the market. His idea has spread across whole China’s photography industry. 2002 July, launched the concept of “Picasso’s scene backdrop” for kids photography and shocking the whole industry. 2002 August, published “Ms.Tang’s Body Art Portrait Album”, the first female body photography in China, by People’s Arts Publishing 2002 September, a personal exhibition entitled “seeing memory” in the ancient city of Shanxi Province, the 2nd session of the Pingyao International Photography Festival. In December of 2002, he was invited to give lectures in Malaysia and auction off the “Fruitful Achievements” exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, donating all money to the Kuala Lumpur Charitable aid for nursing homes and orphanages, won the "goodwill ambassador" title of honor in Kuala Lumpur. 2003 February-March, held the exhibition of “White Valentines” at Beijing International Trade and Exhibition Centre. December 2003, pioneered the new concept of "Royal Wedding", and completed the album of “Invasion 2004” wedding photography books published by Jilin art press. In December 2003 was awarded the 2003 annual contribution of the Chinese human body photography. 2003 Published “China Portrait Culture”. 2004 January, published Body Art & Portrait album “Chun Hua Qiu Shi”. 2004 March, held the exhibition of “Body Art & Portrait photography” in Chengdu. 2004 May, featured on a special report of “Match En China” in Paris. 2004 September, Pingyao international photography festival held entitled "the ambiguity of ancient legacy" xu-long Zhang body art exhibition 2005 August. 2005 August, accept the German star weekly "Der Stern" special report of “China nude” photography...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

±Íà - Contemporary, Figurative, Woman, Polaroid, photograph, Church

±Íà - Contemporary, Figurative, Woman, Polaroid, photograph, Church

By xulong zhang

Located in Morongo Valley, CA

'±ÍÃ' - 2010 - 21.5 cm x 27cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs, Archival Print, based on a Polaroid 809, Signed, embossed stamp and artist certificate. Not mounted. Xulong Zhang Short Bio: He has been engaged in fashion portrait photography for 30 years and loves Polaroid photography. In 2000, he began to develop Polaroid photography and traveled to 34 countries for photography. Vita: 1999 Has won the title “Ten Elites” in the 3rd China Portrait Photography...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Color, Polaroid, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Untitled - Polaroid, Contemporary

Untitled - Polaroid, Contemporary

By xulong zhang

Located in Morongo Valley, CA

'Untitled' - 2010, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs, 8.5 cm x 10.2cm. Archival Print, based on a Fuji FP100c, Sabattier Effect Negative film scanning. Signed, embossed stamp and artist certificate. Not mounted. Xulong Zhang Short Bio: He has been engaged in fashion portrait photography for 30 years and loves Polaroid photography. In 2000, he began to develop Polaroid photography and traveled to 34 countries for photography. Vita: 1999 Has won the title “Ten Elites” in the 3rd China Portrait Photography. 2000 Named the World Chinese Artist, known as “The Prince of Album” 2001 September, CCTV special report on “Zhang Xulong’s Body Art Photography” gained strong feedback from the community. 2002 January, published “Strategies for Commercial Portrait Photograph” by Zhejiang Photography Publishing. 2002 February, launched the concept of “Tang Yun” and greatly accepted by the market. His idea has spread across whole China’s photography industry. 2002 July, launched the concept of “Picasso’s scene backdrop” for kids photography and shocking the whole industry. 2002 August, published “Ms.Tang’s Body Art Portrait Album”, the first female body photography in China, by People’s Arts Publishing 2002 September, a personal exhibition entitled “seeing memory” in the ancient city of Shanxi Province, the 2nd session of the Pingyao International Photography Festival. In December of 2002, he was invited to give lectures in Malaysia and auction off the “Fruitful Achievements” exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, donating all money to the Kuala Lumpur Charitable aid for nursing homes and orphanages, won the "goodwill ambassador" title of honor in Kuala Lumpur. 2003 February-March, held the exhibition of “White Valentines” at Beijing International Trade and Exhibition Centre. December 2003, pioneered the new concept of "Royal Wedding", and completed the album of “Invasion 2004” wedding photography books published by Jilin art press. In December 2003 was awarded the 2003 annual contribution of the Chinese human body photography. 2003 Published “China Portrait Culture”. 2004 January, published Body Art & Portrait album “Chun Hua Qiu Shi”. 2004 March, held the exhibition of “Body Art & Portrait photography” in Chengdu. 2004 May, featured on a special report of “Match En China” in Paris. 2004 September, Pingyao international photography festival held entitled "the ambiguity of ancient legacy" xu-long Zhang body art exhibition 2005 August. 2005 August, accept the German star weekly "Der Stern" special report of “China nude...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Untitled, Contemporary, 21st Century, Polaroid, Landscape Photography

Untitled, Contemporary, 21st Century, Polaroid, Landscape Photography

By xulong zhang

Located in Morongo Valley, CA

'Untitled' - 2013, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival Print, based on a Polaroid 665, 27x21.5cm. Signed, embossed stamp and artist certificate. Not mounted. Xulong Zhang Short Bio: He has been engaged in fashion portrait photography for 30 years and loves Polaroid photography. In 2000, he began to develop Polaroid photography and traveled to 34 countries for photography. Vita: 1999 Has won the title “Ten Elites” in the 3rd China Portrait Photography...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Basilica, Bode Museum

Basilica, Bode Museum

By Reinhard Görner

Located in Los Angeles, CA

signed and numbered on label, verso Reinhard Görner, with his large format photographs orchestrates the monumentality of historical architecture, gardens, and masterpieces. An acti...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

Lambda

Orangerie, Parc de Versailles, France

Orangerie, Parc de Versailles, France

By Reinhard Görner

Located in Los Angeles, CA

40 x 60 inches ed. of 10 $5,000 50 x 75 inches ed. of 5 $8,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Reinhard Görner, with his large format photographs orchestrates the monumentalit...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

Lambda

Reinhard Görner 'Biblioteca del Senado, Madrid, Spain' (Library, Madrid)

Reinhard Görner 'Biblioteca del Senado, Madrid, Spain' (Library, Madrid)

By Reinhard Görner

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Reinhard Görner Biblioteca del Senado, Madrid 2017 59 x 50 inches ed. of 10 $6,000 71 x 60 inches ed. of 7 $9,000 83 x 70 inches ed. of 5 $11,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Paper is trimmed to the image: actual image size listed Internal Keywords: Reinhard Görner, Library series, Madrid, Spain, Large-Scale Photography, Large-scale German photography, Spanish Libraries, Spanish Monuments, Library Photography...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

C Print, Lambda

Duke Humfrey's Library I, Oxford, England
Duke Humfrey's Library I, Oxford, England

Duke Humfrey's Library I, Oxford, England

By Reinhard Görner

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Duke Humfrey's Library I 54.2 x 50 inches ed. of 10 $6,000 65.1 x 60 inches ed. of 7 $9,000 75.9 x 70 inches ed. of 5 $11,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Paper is trimme...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

C Print, Lambda

African American Large Vintage Color Photograph Dandy C Print Photo Ike Ude
African American Large Vintage Color Photograph Dandy C Print Photo Ike Ude

African American Large Vintage Color Photograph Dandy C Print Photo Ike Ude

By Iké Udé

Located in Surfside, FL

BEYOND DECORUM, CLOSED AND OPEN Series, I am selling each individually. they are pairs of open and closed jackets. I will include the second photo for reference. This listing is just for the closed jacket photograph. Vintage C-print on Fuji crystal archive paper. Image size is 40 x 30", sheet measures 50 X 32 Provenance: printed by Muse X, Los Angeles. I believe these were test, proof prints. They are not signed or editioned The work of Nigerian-born Iké Udé explores a world of dualities: photographer/performance artist, artist/spectator, African/post-nationalist, mainstream/marginal, individual/everyman and fashion/art. Iké Udé (born 1964) is a Nigerian-American photographer, performance artist, Ike Ude was born in 1964 in Lagos, Nigeria where he was raised. The eldest son of a wealthy family, he was exposed to photography and portraiture at an early age by dressing up for biweekly family portraits. Udé knew he was an artist by the age of six, when he developed a habit of firing a catapult at passers-by when he disapproved of their walk or the way they were dressed. As an adolescent, Udé attended the Government Secondary School, a British boarding school in Afikpo Nigeria. He was a habitué of London before he moved to New York in 1981 to study Media Communications at Hunter College, CUNY. He began his art career in the late 1980s with abstract painting and drawing. Since the 1990s, photography has been his primary medium. Udé is a dual citizen of the United States and Nigeria. Udé's paintings and drawings are less well known than his photography, though critics and art historians have recognized his early work. The late Henry Geldzahler, said of Udé's paintings and works on paper: "I am touched and amazed at the ways in which he manages to blend invisibly the modernist tradition with his own Nigerian roots. There is never anything forced in the conjunction; air and light seem to be his media." Udé began his Cover Girls series in 1994. Each photograph imitates the cover of a popular fashion or lifestyle magazines, in which the artist himself is featured as the model. (ala the work of Cindy Sherman) The photographs were consciously stylized, posed, photographed and then paired with type matching that of the respected magazine. At first glance, each photograph appears to be an authentic magazine cover. Udé used the magazine cover as a stage to critique the fetishism of the upper class white model and the effects of popular culture on today's consumerist society. The series was exhibited in 1994 in the New York City gallery Exit Art. Udé's black and white series of photographs, Uli, references both high fashion and Uli body art, wall motifs from Udé's Igbo heritage. The photographs explore the anonymity of the inscribed and disembodied self. Udé's dynamic use of light, namely the chiaroscuro effect, serves as a critical compositional element in the series. Udé's Beyond Decorum series, begun in 1999, juxtaposes photographs of men's shirts and women's pumps with suggestive personal advertisements in place of the clothing tags. With its accompanying book, Beyond Decorum: Photographs by Iké Udé, the series traveled across the United States and Canada. The exhibition was shown at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Portland, Maine; OBORO in Montreal, Canada; Sert Gallery; Carpenter Center at the Harvard University Art Museum; and MAK Museum in Vienna, Austria before traveling for two more years internationally. Udé's Paris Hilton: Fantasy and Simulacrum is a conversation between his alter ego, Visconti, and the celebrity Paris...

Category

1990s Conceptual Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print, Color

Reinhard Görner Virtue, Bode–Museum, Berlin
Reinhard Görner Virtue, Bode–Museum, Berlin

Reinhard Görner Virtue, Bode–Museum, Berlin

By Reinhard Görner

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Virtue, Bode–Museum, Berlin 50 x 62.5 inches ed. of 10 $6,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Reinhard Görner, with his large format photographs orchestrates the monumentality of rooms. An active architecture photographer since 1985, is a master of perspectives and precise spatial compositions, and he thus considers classical sculpture, in all of its possible facets, a special challenge. "Görner’s photographs sometimes open the doors to another world and take the viewer with them on a journey through time. Here the palace is no longer a museum but both royal residence and a site steeped in history. The viewer does not have to share the halls with the masses of visitors; instead the images offer him exclusive impressions of the Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) and the Galerie des Batailles (Hall of Battles) as even the king of France was probably never granted. The halls are empty of people, yet they seem to be able to unfurl their individual characters of their own accord. These places practically breathe history, and this aspect is also part of the essence captured in the photographs. King Wilhelm of Prussia was named German Emperor Wilhelm I in the Hall of Mirrors after France was defeated in 1870–1871 in the Franco-German War. The Treaty of Versailles following World War I was also signed there in 1919. In this sense, the architectural photographs of Versailles...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

Lambda

Reggae Curve, Painted Hanging Sculpture by Kevin Cole
Reggae Curve, Painted Hanging Sculpture by Kevin Cole

Reggae Curve, Painted Hanging Sculpture by Kevin Cole

By Kevin Cole

Located in Long Island City, NY

This hanging sculpture by the American artist Kevin Cole, is a modern conceptual work. It is constructed of painted rubber and wood. Cole was quoted, "Throughout all of my work, I ...

Category

20th Century Conceptual Art

Materials

Rubber, Wood, Paint

Wake Up Man from Bullet Space, Your House is Mine - Screenprint by Eric Drooker

Wake Up Man from Bullet Space, Your House is Mine - Screenprint by Eric Drooker

By Eric Drooker

Located in Long Island City, NY

Artist: Eric Drooker, American (1958 - ) Title: Wake Up Man from Bullet Space, Your House is Mine Year: 1988-1992 Medium: Silkscreen, signed in pencil Edition: 126/150 Size: 23...

Category

1980s Conceptual Art

Materials

Screen

Generation A

Generation A

By Julia Beyer

Located in Morongo Valley, CA

Generation A’, 2017, 20 x 24,3 cm, edition 2/10, digital C-Print based on a Polaroid collage with superimposed transparency. Numbered and signed on the back by the artist. A piece f...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

C Print, Polaroid

Stars 12, 2014 - Stars and Trees in Ancient English Woodland and Forest

Stars 12, 2014 - Stars and Trees in Ancient English Woodland and Forest

By Ellie Davies

Located in Brighton, GB

Stars and Trees in Ancient English Woodland and Forest by Ellie Davies Stars and Trees is a stunning Digital C-Type Print on Fuji Maxima Matte paper, available in this size from a L...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

C Print, Digital, Photographic Paper, Color

Chinese Contemporary Art by Su Yu - Rope Swing

Chinese Contemporary Art by Su Yu - Rope Swing

By Su Yu

Located in Paris, IDF

Oil on canvas Su Yu is a Chinese artist born in 1987 who lives and works in Beijing. He was an old student of prestigious art teachers as Shi Liang & Chen Danqing at Oil Paintin...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Sorcerers Apprentice

The Sorcerers Apprentice

By Julia Beyer

Located in Morongo Valley, CA

'The Sorcerers Apprentice’, 2017, 24 x 20 cm, edition of 2/10, Archival C-Print based on a Polaroid, Numbered and signed on the back by the artist. Not mounted. A piece from T...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

C Print, Polaroid, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper

Colored Columns III: Neue Museum, Berlin

Colored Columns III: Neue Museum, Berlin

By Reinhard Görner

Located in Los Angeles, CA

New Museum, Berlin 3 sizes 62.5 x 50 inches ed. of 10 $6,000 75 x 60 inches ed. of 5 $9,000 87.5 x 70 inches ed. of 5 $11,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Paper is trimm...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

Lambda

Waterdrops, Lithograph by Kim Tschang-Yeul
Waterdrops, Lithograph by Kim Tschang-Yeul

Waterdrops, Lithograph by Kim Tschang-Yeul

Located in Long Island City, NY

Artist: Tschang-Yeul Kim, Korean (1929 - ) Title: Water Drops Year: 1988 Medium: Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 300 Size: 43.5 in. x 29 in. (110.49 cm x 73.66 cm)

Category

1980s Conceptual Art

Materials

Screen

Conceptual art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Conceptual art available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add art created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, purple, orange, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Reinhard Görner, Kojun, Jose Sierra, and xulong zhang. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Conceptual art, so small editions measuring 1 inches across are also available. Prices for art made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $45 and tops out at $500,000, while the average work sells for $2,465.