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.
Portrait of polar bear . Original oil painting . Vintage style . Children’s room
Located in Oslo, NO
This captivating artwork presents a textured portrayal of a teddy bear exuding warmth and nostalgia. The bear is centrally positioned, wearing a vintage-style, striped cardigan, enha...
Oil, Board
One Green Wave, Conceptual Drawing with Watercolor by Richard Davies
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Richard Davies Title: One Green Wave Year: 1991 Medium: Watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, collage, signed in pencil Size: 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 1...
Watercolor, Color Pencil, Graphite
Japanese Contemporary Art by Kojun - Kensho 2249
By Kojun
Located in Paris, IDF
Inkjet print of digtial photgraph on Kakejikuya kozo washi with origami backing paper Kojun is an self-taught multimédia American artist born in 1977 based in Tokyo, Japan since 199...
Paper, Mixed Media, Inkjet
Untitled
Located in Barcelona, CT
The painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate
Ink, Mixed Media
Gordon Ramsay, Chef Portrait / Large Photograph / British Chef
By John Reardon
Located in London, GB
Gordon James Ramsay; (born 8 November 1966) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded ...
Photographic Film, Color, Archival Pigment
An old friend . Original oil painting .Teddy bear . Children’s room
Located in Oslo, NO
This captivating painting features a charming teddy bear, exuding nostalgia and warmth. Painted with expressive, bold brushstrokes, the bear's textured fur radiates a sense of cozine...
Oil, Board
Survival Pencils
By Jenny Holzer
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Jenny Holzer's menacing "Truisms" first appeared in 1983 when the artist was invited to participate in a group show exploring the themes and dialogue from George Orwell's "1984". O...
Pencil
Silver Earth, Conceptual Art Etching with Aquatint by Menashe Kadishman
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Menashe Kadishman, Israeli (1932 - 2015) Title: Silver Earth Year: 1979 Medium: Etching, signed in pencil Edition: 75 Size: 31 x 39 in. (78.74 x 99.06 cm)
Screen
$1,850
"Untitled 3.22" Photography 16' x 24' inch Edition of 15 by García De Marina
Located in Culver City, CA
"Untitled 3.22" Photography 16' x 24' inch Edition of 15 by García De Marina Signed and numbered by the artist Comes with COA issued by the artist García de Marina was born in Gij...
Digital Pigment
Melancholy - Yuutsuna
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Yoshikuni Iida, Japanese (1923 - 2006) Title: Melancholy - Yuutsuna Year: 1973 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, signed and dated verso Size: 39.5 x 79 in. (100.33 x 200.66 cm)
Acrylic
Untitled
Located in Barcelona, CT
The painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate
Mixed Media
Kaplica by Gina Soden, Documentary photography, colour photography
Located in Deddington, GB
Kaplica by Gina Soden [2014] limited_edition and hand signed by the artist Digital photograph on Baryta paper Edition number 9 Image size: H:70.02 cm x W:105 cm Complete Size of...
Paper, Digital Pigment
$21,000
Shaman
By John Petrey
Located in Rye, NY
John Petrey’s Shaman is a striking mixed-media sculpture that merges mythology, ritual, and contemporary artistry. The figure wears a robe of richly patterned patchwork, assembled fr...
Ceramic, Leather, Fabric, Found Objects, Mixed Media
Native ( f) - Portrait Painting - Conceptual Art By Marc Zimmerman
Located in Carmel, CA
Portrait of a Native Polynesian woman poses with a tropical headdress of flowers and leaves. She watches the surf crashing on the beach on her beloved island. A matching ( male) pain...
Oil
Source 3
By VIROCODE (Peter D'Auria and Andrea Mancuso)
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original Inkjet prints, carbon and beeswax mounted to wood that was included in the artistic duo's exhibition at the world renowned Albright Knox Art Gallery. Virocode is compose...
Wood, Wax, Carbon Pencil, Inkjet
Voodoo Altar: Feast for the Loa
By Adam Leontus
Located in Miami, FL
Voodoo Altar: Feast for the Loa This work represents a convergence of religion, craft, and design, as well as the need for individual artistic expression. It is a visual feast as muc...
Masonite, Oil
Well Before….the Trusty S.C.O.R.E.* Crows
By Michael Beam
Located in Buffalo, NY
Peenemunde 1943—During World War II, German rocketeers developed Vergeltungswaffen or "V" weapons at the German rocket facility Peenemunde, built in 1937. The first civilian employee...
Canvas, Found Objects, Mixed Media, Oil
Mixed Media Planet with Roots: 'Fons et origo #3' (Source & Origin)
Located in New York, NY
Fons et origo, which in Latin means Source and Origin, includes 8 wall-sculptures. These circular shapes sprout long roots in delicate hand-cut formations. Some of the roots have tin...
Metal, Wire
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Centre, Berlin, Germany, architectural library
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Centre Berlin Germany 2019 60 x 75 inches 152.4 x 190,3 cm Edition of 7 signed and numbered on label, verso In Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Centre, Reinhard Gör...
C Print, Lambda
$3,700
Steadfast Gaze 3 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Africa, Girl
By John Ali
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...
Canvas, Acrylic
Quiet Matriarch - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Africa
By John Ali
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...
Canvas, Acrylic
"Backstage Rant" Conceptual Text Based Painting
By David Kramer
Located in New York, NY
This large scale conceptual text based painting by New York artist, David Kramer, features, in bold type the phase: "... I AM STILL WAITING FOR MY...
Oil, Canvas
Linda Cunningham, 'Edge of Change III', 2015, Pastel, Acrylic Paint
Located in Darien, CT
Unexpected materials, found and manufactured, perch precariously on torn edges and bifurcated sheets of large paper. Here, fluid calligraphic lines are posed against the veracity of ...
Pastel, Acrylic, Wood, Charcoal, Cotton Canvas, Found Objects
Untitled
Located in Barcelona, CT
The painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate
Mixed Media
$4,400
Billboard - large scale monochromatic photograph of iconic Americana road sign
By Frank Schott
Located in San Francisco, CA
a monochromatic photographic homage to artist Ed Ruscha from a series of iconic Americana roadside billboard signs and conceptual signage BILLBOARD by Frank Schott 48 x 76 inches...
Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Giclée
Aguas Baldias (Green), Conceptual Etching by Manuel Piña-Baldoquín
Located in Long Island City, NY
Aguas Baldias (Green) by Manuel Piña-Baldoquín is a 1997 etching with embossed letterpress that merges visual art with poetic text in a striking conceptual composition. This 22.25 x ...
Etching
Psychedelic Two Eyes with Groovy Plant & Flowers
Located in Miami, FL
James Spanfeller (20th century) mixed media on board drawing. Signed lower right This artwork appeared on page 68 of the August 1970 issue of Playboy Magazine, illustrating the fict...
Paper, Ink, Watercolor, Pen
Studio Muse - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Africa
By John Ali
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...
Canvas, Acrylic
Linternas
By Erik Perez
Located in Mexico City, CDMX
An innate and atypical landscape artist, Eric Pérez is an intellectual who paints. He knows and loves Mexican and world history, from which he derives his contemporary context. His p...
Canvas, Oil
$3,400
Verve 29/30, Suite de 180 Dessins de Picasso. Nov. 28, 1953-Feb 3, 1954
Located in New York, NY
Verve 29/30 Author: Picasso, Michael Leris Year: 1956 Publisher: Harcourt Brace & Company, New York Title: Verve 29/30. Suite de 180 Dessins de Picasso...
Paper
Untitled
Located in Barcelona, CT
the painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate
Mixed Media, Oil
Triptych - Political debate, Conceptual Glazed Ceramic by Artur Balder
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artur Balder, Spanish/American (1984 - ) - Triptych - Political debate [mostly peaceful], Year: 2022, Medium: Glazed Ceramic, Edition: 7/9, Size: 13 x 11.8 x 11.8 in. (33.02 x 29...
Ceramic
Untitled
Located in Barcelona, CT
The painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate
Lithograph
$2,900
El Grito De La Gitana, from Corazon Sagrado series by Delilah Montoya, 1993
Located in Denton, TX
This image is a collotype print from Delilah Montoya's series, Corazon Sagrado, and is edition 1/1. It is signed, titled, dated and numbered in pencil on print margin by Delilah Montoya. This collotype print features a woman in a dress dancing in front of a backdrop on a checkered floor...
Other Medium
Bode Museum
Located in Los Angeles, CA
50 x 62.5 inches ed. of 7 $6,000 60 x 75 inches ed. of 7 $9,000 70 x 87.5 inches ed. of 5 $11,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Reinhard Görner, with his large format phot...
Lambda
Faith Thumbnail H Large Mixed Media Conceptual Abstract Painting
By Dennis Balk
Located in Surfside, FL
From his show Hashish at Michael Steinberg Gallery (bearing their label verso) Reviewed by Roberta Smith in the New York Times. Abstract Expressionism meets graffiti photography. Cy ...
Canvas, Ink
$10,000
George Peabody Library Framed, Baltimore, Interior Architecture Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Dimensions are for the photograph, but this listing is to provide a framing option via 1stibs. Lead time is 4 weeks for framing, as with all high quality custom framing. Final framed...
C Print, Lambda
$7,816
Chris Levine - EQUANIMITY_2022 70 Limited Queen Elizabeth II Photography Modern
By Chris Levine
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Chris Levine - EQUANIMITY_2022 70 Date of creation: 2022 Medium: Screenprint on Somerset Satin paper Edition number: 2/5 Size: 47 x 38 cm Condition: New in mint conditions, never fra...
Satin Paper, Screen
Vibrant Heritage - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Africa
By John Ali
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...
Canvas, Acrylic
wall sculpture, hand-carved human bust, raw eucalyptus wood with steel
Located in Carballo, ES
Hand-carved eucalyptus wood sculpture by the artist Álvaro de la Vega (1954, Lugo, Spain) in 20006. It is part of a series of sculptures of bodies and animals made with chisel and ha...
Stainless Steel
Contemporary blue painting on paper, Seascape, Abstract Seaweeds
By TUSET
Located in Carballo, ES
This is an original artwork unframed realized by TUSET in 2020. We can frame it in natural wood or black on request. Dimensions: 65 x 50 cm Original and unique piece 1/1. Includes ...
Ink, Handmade Paper
$1,821
TWO SPACES - Expressive Charcoal On Paper Painting, Black White Drawing
Located in Salzburg, AT
The work is on 1 paper. Krzysztof Gliszczyński is Professor for painting on Academy of fine arts Gdansk. The artwork is unframed and will be...
Paper, Charcoal
Untitled
Located in Barcelona, CT
the painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate
Mixed Media, Lithograph
Untitled
Located in Barcelona, CT
The painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate
Mixed Media
Glimmer of Hope - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Africa
By John Ali
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...
Canvas, Acrylic
Chinese Contemporary Art by Su Yu - Cospaly
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...
Canvas, Oil
Untitled
Located in Barcelona, CT
The painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate
Mixed Media
Earthy Abstract Metal Landscape Composition "Telephone Poles"
Located in Cape Town, ZA
Mark Hilltout has always been drawn to the random, the discarded and the broken. Car dumps fascinate him - he is attracted to the broken edge, not the perfectly straight line. For th...
Metal, Iron
$8,400
Fritz Horstman, Formwork for the East River, 2017, Wood, Latex Paint, Wood Panel
Located in Darien, CT
While working on a large building project several years ago the artist, Fritz Horstman was struck by the poetry in the unfinished state of the construction site. He was drawn specifically to the space between the plywood walls that were raised as formworks for the pouring of cement. That space could only exist for a few hours before the cement truck arrived, but in that moment it was a revolving abstraction of potential, delineation, growth, and destruction. Once filled it was gone: the plywood was stripped away, the earth was backfilled. To suspend that moment he began building models of formworks. Leaving them unfilled, they are perpetually unfinished. From models based directly on architecture, Horstman expanded to forms found in the landscape. Making a formwork that depicts constraint upon the landscape is not exactly a reversal of the formwork’s function, but it asks different questions than a formwork designed for a building would. Why would you make a cement creek? What is the relationship between a flowing creek and poured cement? Is this a barrier or just delineation? For River Woman ODETTA, in addition to several small sculptures in the Flat File, Horstman will install Formwork for the East River, which describes that river’s shape as it flows from Rikers Island to the tip of Manhattan. The 3 x 18 x 7 foot sculpture...
Wood, Latex, Wood Panel
Untitled
Located in Barcelona, CT
the painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate
Ink
Monkey Time - Animal Painting By Marc Zimmerman
Located in Carmel, CA
Playfl monkeys climb exotic colored plants clowning as only monkeys do. Monkey Time - Animal Painting - Oil on Canvas By Marc Zimmerman Marc Zimmerman creates playful paintings, ...
Canvas, Oil
Comfort Zone
By John Ali
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
In the captivating artwork titled "Comfort Zone," artist John Ali masterfully captures the essence of introspection and the complex interplay between identity and personal space. The...
Canvas, Oil
"Plovers" Conceptual painting of birds and moon rocket engine
Located in New York, NY
In this conceptual painting, New York artist, Thomas Broadbent presents five portraits of Plovers in 2 rows with a finely detailed rendering of a moon rocket engine...
Watercolor, Archival Paper
$2,491Sale Price|20% Off
Mare Veen - "No Title II" - fine art print - ready to hang
By Mare Veen
Located in Winterswijk, NL
Mare Veen - "No Title II". Of the series 'Free Fall'. Result of a personal journey, looking for answers to the question 'What is Being?'. This process was inspired by philosophers s...
Rag Paper, Digital
$1,200
Elaboration Partielle, Conceptual Hand-Colored Etching with Collage by James Coi
Located in Long Island City, NY
James Coignard, French (1925 - 2008) - Elaboration Partielle, Portfolio: Song of the Broad-Axe, Year: 1982, Medium: Hand Colored Etching with Collage on hand-made Moulin de Larroq...
Mixed Media, Etching
$4,000
Conceptual Text Based Painting "Paved with Gold" (tax the poor, feed the rich)
By David Kramer
Located in New York, NY
38"x28" signed by the artist, David Kramer. (oil, acrylic, enamel, pencil on gessoed paper) In this conceptual work on paper, the title: "Paved with Gold" counters the text which ov...
Paper, Oil, Pencil
$1,500
Limited Edition Japanese Photography, #189 Yunotani Village, Nigata Prefecture
Located in New york, NY
The photograph Toshio Shibata, #189 Yunotani Village, Nigata Prefecture, 1989 by Japanese photographer Toshio Shibata is signed (on recto) by the photographer. The 13" x 19" print is...
Photographic Film, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Rag Paper, Pigment, Arc...
David Bowie Aladdin Sane Eyes Open, limited edition by Duffy
By Brian Duffy
Located in Austin, TX
Museum quality fine art print of an alternative shot from the cover shoot for Aladdin Sane by David Bowie from the official Duffy Archive. This official Duffy Archive print is avail...
Archival Pigment
$55,250
Copyright
By General Idea
Located in Toronto, Ontario
In 1967, General Idea was founded in Toronto by AA Bronson (b. 1946), Felix Partz (1945-1994), and Jorge Zontal (1944-1994). Over 25 years, they made a significant contribution to po...
Mixed Media
$7,000
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Centre IV, Berlin, Germany, architectural library
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Centre IV Berlin Germany 2019 40 x 60 inches 101.6 x 152,4 cm Edition of 10 signed and numbered on label, verso In Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Centre IV, Reinh...
C Print, Lambda