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Mel Bochner Art

American, b. 1940

Mel Bochner experimented with a range of styles before finding his eventual success as a pioneer in Conceptual art. An audacious 1966 show at School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhattan that he presented, “Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art,” remains a seminal touchstone for Conceptualism.

Bochner was born to a Pittsburgh sign painter in 1940. While attending the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon) in the late 1950s, he studied color theory and modernist movements as well as classical drawing, a balance that was formative in his career. After graduation, he moved to San Francisco, creating paintings influenced by Clyfford Still and Jean Dubuffet.

It wasn’t until Bochner “found his way out of the labyrinth of late Abstract Expressionism,” as he put it to The Brooklyn Rail, that he began to create his most meaningful work. Following a stint auditing philosophy classes after a friend introduced him to the work of Heidegger, Bochner relocated to New York, finding work as a guard at the Jewish Museum. In Manhattan, he ran in the same circles as Dan Flavin, Brice Marden and Donald Judd.

“One of the conversations going on in New York in the late ’60s was about the relationship of the object to the art experience,” Bochner said. “...Younger artists like myself were talking about what it would mean to eliminate the object altogether.” This idea would become the foundation of the Conceptual movement, in which Bochner was instrumental. The artist is probably best known for his text-focused paintings, including a series that plays with the phrase “Blah Blah Blah.” He produces work that regards art as an experience, rather than an object, centering on the process of creation and viewership as opposed to the finished product.

Bochner’s “Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art” featured drawings, notes and outlines from the likes of Milton Glaser, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt and others as well as pages from Scientific American. Bochner, then an art history professor at SVA, photocopied the assemblage of works, added them to binders and positioned them on pedestals for the exhibition because the show’s organizers lacked the funds to frame the pieces.

Bochner’s works can be found in the collections of many major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Find original Mel Bochner prints and other art on 1stDibs.

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Artist: Mel Bochner
Crazy over the top (With background Noise)
By Mel Bochner
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Bochner, Mel Title: Crazy over the top (With background Noise) Date: 2018 Medium: Screenprint in colors with black gloss ink on wove paper Unframed Dimensions: 21.7" x 2...
Category

2010s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Screen

Blah, Blah, Blah (Limited Edition face mask with Bochner's most famous text)
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
Brand new in original sealed packaging (not shown) - never opened MEL BOCHNER Blah, Blah, Blah Limited Edition Mask, 2021 Machine washable lightweight fabric with three layers of pro...
Category

2010s Conceptual Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Textile, Cotton, Mixed Media, Screen

Second Quartet: Black and White
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
Mel Bochner is recognized as one of the leading figures in the development of Conceptual art in New York in the 1960s and 1970s. Emerging at a time when painting was increasingly dis...
Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Lithograph

Four Quartets Third Quartet
By Mel Bochner
Located in Missouri, MO
Four Quartets Third Quartet, 1990 Mel Bochner (American, b. 1940) Signed and Numbered Verso Lithograph in Four Panels 42 x 34.5 inches 52.25 x 44 inches with frame Mel Bochner, a po...
Category

1990s American Modern Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Lithograph

Kick Against the Pricks (Blah, Blah, Blah) Conceptual, Pop, Signed/N - Framed
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
MEL BOCHNER Kick Against the Pricks (Blah..Blah...Blah...), 2018 Two color silkscreen on boutique silk fair paper with blue-colored back, 350 gsm paper Signed, dated, and numbered lower left from the limited edition of 30 in graphite by Mel Bochner Frame included: elegantly framed in a museum quality white wood frame with UV plexiglass is included Measurements: Framed: 12.5 inches x 30 inches x .5 inch Artwork: 10.5 inches x 28 inches Published by Two Palms Press Bibliography Catalogue Raisonné of Editioned Prints Krakow Witkin...
Category

2010s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Screen, Graphite, Pencil

Four Color Quartets (Fourth Quartet)
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
Suite $20,000. Individual Quartets $6,000. First Quartet 35 in. x 35 in. Second Quartet 35 in. x 45 in. Third Quartet 45 in. x 35 in. Fourth Quartet 45 in. x 45 in. Mel ...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Lithograph

Four Color Quartets (Third Quartet)
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
Suite $20,000. Individual Quartets $6,000. First Quartet 35 in. x 35 in. Second Quartet 35 in. x 45 in. Third Quartet 45 in. x 35 in. Fourth Quartet 45 in. x 45 in. Mel ...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Lithograph

Four Color Quartets (Second Quartet)
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
Suite $20,000. Individual Quartets $6,000. First Quartet 35 in. x 35 in. Second Quartet 35 in. x 45 in. Third Quartet 45 in. x 35 in. Fourth Quartet 45 in. x 45 in. Mel ...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Lithograph

Four Color Quartets, Abstract Lithograph by Mel Bochner
By Mel Bochner
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Mel Bochner, American (1940 - ) Title: Four Color Quartets Year: 1990 Medium: Four Lithographs, signed and numbered verso Edition: 35 Overall Size: ...
Category

1990s Conceptual Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Lithograph

Four Color Quartets (First Quartet)
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
Suite $20,000. Individual Quartets $6,000. First Quartet 35 in. x 35 in. Second Quartet 35 in. x 45 in. Third Quartet 45 in. x 35 in. Fourth Quartet 45 in. x 45 in. Mel ...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Lithograph

Silence
By Mel Bochner
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Unique Oil paint and dye on panel Signed in graphite + a signed COA will be mailed direct upon acquisition Created in 2024
Category

2010s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Dye, Oil

BLAH
By Mel Bochner
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Rare Mel Bochner early painting - unique - oil on canvas - exhibited at Peter Freeman New York
Category

2010s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Oil

HA
By Mel Bochner
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Unique Oil paint and dye on panel Signed in graphite + a signed COA will be mailed direct upon acquisition Created in 202
Category

2010s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Dye, Oil

I Forget
By Mel Bochner
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Unique Oil paint and dye on panel Signed in graphite + a signed COA will be mailed direct upon acquisition Created in 2024
Category

2010s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Dye, Oil

Amazing
By Mel Bochner
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Unique Oil paint and dye on panel Signed in graphite + a signed COA will be mailed direct upon acquisition Created in 2024
Category

2010s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Dye, Oil

Obliterate, Limited Edition Silkscreen Print by American printmaker Mel Bochner
By Mel Bochner
Located in London, GB
Mel Bochner b. 1940 Obliterate 2018 silkscreen in 12 colours 50 x 40 in (127 x 101.6 cm) Edition of 30 unframed
Category

2010s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

Materials

Screen

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Previously Available Items
'Blah Blah Blah' Unique work, 2024
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
'Blah Blah Blah', 2024 is a unique work by Mel Bochner, with dimensions 71.875 x 48.875 in., and signed by the Artist. This monoprint is published by Two Palms, New York. Mel Bochner...
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Blah, Blah, Blah, 2024
By Mel Bochner
Located in Palo Alto, CA
The background consists of bright colors. The letters laid upon the top are built in 3-dimension of oil paint in solid, strong colors. The embossed letters are executed in a capitalized and uniform type face with rounded corners and crisp edges. The pigment of the oil paint glows in hues of pink, orange, purple and yellow. The repeated word occupies the expanse of the image as if composed within a linear grid. Throughout this grid, Bochner plays with the levels of contrast, heightening the intensity in certain sections, and reducing the degree in other areas. The colorful monoprint is not only fun to look at, but carries and air of gaiety around the subject of fine art – something that is so often considered all too serious. Bochner uses powerful words to make the viewer think about how they “ascribe character and feelings to things, even the inanimate, that have none.” He seeks to incite a reaction in the viewer, and certainly the use of such color and such bold language will no doubt do the trick. Created in 2024, this monoprint with collage, engraving and embossment on hand-dyed Twinrocker handmade paper is hand signed and dated by Mel Bochner (Pittsburgh, 1940 - ) in pencil in the lower recto. Mel Bochner Blah...
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Ha Ha Ha, 2024
By Mel Bochner
Located in Palo Alto, CA
The background consists of bright colors. The letters laid upon the top are built in 3-dimension of oil paint in solid, strong colors. The embossed letters are executed in a capitali...
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Crazy over the top (With background Noise)
By Mel Bochner
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Bochner, Mel Title: Crazy over the top (With background Noise) Date: 2018 Medium: Screenprint in colors with black gloss ink on wove paper Unframed Dimensions: 21.7" x 2...
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2010s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

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Screen

'Blah, Blah, Blah' Limited Edition Black and Grey Conceptual Screen Print, 2022
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
‘Blah, Blah, Blah’ is an eye-catching silkscreen print with color-shifting ink by contemporary artist Mel Bochner. This piece was created in 2022 and is part of a limited Edition of ...
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Blah, Blah, Blah
By Mel Bochner
Located in Palo Alto, CA
Mel Bochner Blah, Blah, Blah, 2023 is a quintessential offering from American conceptualist, Mel Bochner, balancing and the artificial and organic nat...
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2010s Contemporary Mel Bochner Art

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Handmade Paper, Oil, Engraving, Monoprint

Blah, Blah, Blah
By Mel Bochner
Located in Palo Alto, CA
Rich colors stand out upon your first glance at Mel Bochner's Blah, Blah, Blah. The background consists of bright colors. The letters laid upon the top are built in 3-dimension of oi...
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Scoundrel
By Mel Bochner
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Bochner, Mel Title: Scoundrel Date: 2011 Medium: Monoprint with collage, engraving and embossment on hand-dyed Twinrocker handmade paper Unframed Dimensions: 12" x 9" Fr...
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Mel Bochner 'Blah Blah Blah' Unique work, 2023
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
Mel Bochner 'Blah Blah Blah' Unique work, 2023 is signed in pencil on front by the Artist. This mono print is a one-of-kind unique work by Mel Bochner. Mel Bochner is recognized as...
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Mel Bochner 'Is This It?' Cast and Pigmented Paper, 2023
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
'Is This It?' by Mel Bochner is a one of a kind piece made of Cast, Pigment, and Handmade paper. The three dimensional letters cover the brightly colored composition. Perhaps best kn...
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Oh Well
By Mel Bochner
Located in Palo Alto, CA
Mel Bochner Oh Well, 2022 is a bold and visually appealing work of art that captures immediately captures your attention. This striking piece conjures up a soothing sensation yet the...
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Oh Well
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H 36.25 in W 98.25 in
Blah, Blah, Blah + Background Noise -- Screenprint, Text Art by Mel Bochner
By Mel Bochner
Located in London, GB
Blah, Blah, Blah + Background Noise, 2013 Mel Bochner Double sided screenprint on printed paper A unique colour variant Signed, dated and numbered from the edition of 100 (each uniq...
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Mel Bochner art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Mel Bochner art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of blue, red and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Mel Bochner in lithograph, etching, engraving and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Mel Bochner art, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Peter Voulkos, George Condo, and McArthur Binion. Mel Bochner art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $295 and tops out at $50,000, while the average work can sell for $20,000.

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