Artist
Sol Lewitt died today at the age of 78. I first encountered Lewitt's work in
Randy Coleman's Trends in Contemporary Music. (It was the most thought-provoking and engaging class I have ever been involved in, and it came at exactly the right time in my education. I would thank Mr. Coleman if I thought he would remember me.)
I still carry around a copy of Lewitt's
Sentences on Conceptual Art:
1) Conceptual Artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.
5) Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically.
10) Ideas alone can be works of art; they are in a chain of development that may eventually find some form. All ideas need not be made physical.
20) Successful art changes our understanding of the conventions by altering our perceptions.
24) Perception is subjective.
25) The artist may not necessarily understand his own art. His perception is neither better nor worse than that of others.
26) An artist may perceive the art of others better than his own.
32) Banal ideas cannot be rescued by beautiful execution.
33) It is difficult to bungle a good idea.
