In this week’s lecture we will continue our study of materiality – but where we have previously considered the perceptual and affectual aspects of materiality, this week we will focus on the conceptual side of materials – the way that materials signify or embody ideas.

1. KVB117 Visual Art Open Studio 1
Week 9: Materiality & Concept

2. Sophie CALLE
(French b.1953)
The Hotel, Room 28 1981
2 works on paper, photographs and ink
2140 1420 mm
CONCEPT
• Conceptual – relating to thoughts, ideas or
principles as a opposed to perceptual (relating to
the senses) (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.)
• Conceptual art: movement in the 1960s and 1970s
that refers to works of art that emphasise ideas
over form
References:
Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). CONCEPTUAL | meaning in the Cambridge English
Dictionary. Cambridge Dictionary.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/conceptual
Tate. (n.d.). Conceptual art – Art Term. Tate. Retrieved 3 May 2020, from
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/conceptual-art

3. CONCEPT
• All things have a conceptual aspect – our ideas
about the world are a fundamental part of how
we navigate it. The fact that we think of a work of
art as being a special category of thing means
that art is intrinsically conceptual.
• When we refer to the conceptual aspect of art in
general terms, we are referring to its ‘content’
Sophie CALLE
(French b.1953)
The Hotel, Room 28 1981
2 works on paper, photographs and ink
2140 1420 mm

4. CONCEPT
• In his essay ”Thirteen Ways of Looking at a
Blackbird” (1998), American critic Thomas
McEvilley proposed a list of features that impact on
the content of art:
1. Subject matter (representational)
2. Artist’s remarks
3. Genre or Medium
4. Scale
5. Duration
6. Material
7. Context
8. Art history
9. History of work
10. Iconography
Baroness Else Von FREYTAG–LORINGHOVEN
(German 1874-1927)
God 1918

5. CONCEPT
4. Content arising from the material of which the artwork is
made. Within the category of sculpture in the 1960s and '70s,
an artist working marble representationally was at one level
making a statement opposed to that of the artist working with
industrial I-beams or fire. Traditional art materials, industrial
materials, esoteric high-tech materials, absurdist materials […]
—all these decisions by the artist carry content quite as much
as form. They are judgment pronouncements that the art
viewer picks up automatically without necessarily even
thinking of them as content. They are statements of affiliation
to, or alienation from, certain areas of cultural tradition; as,
say, the use of industrial I-beams represents a celebration, or
at least an acceptance, of urban industrial culture, while the
use of marble or ceramic suggests nostalgia for the pre-
Industrial Revolution world.
McEvilley, T. (1998). Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. In Art and discontent: Theory at
the millennium (pp. 70–87). Documentext.Baroness Else Von FREYTAG–LORINGHOVEN
(German 1874-1927)
God 1918

6. Meret OPPENHEIM
(French 1917–1985)
My Governess
1936
MAN RAY
(American 1890–1976)
Gift, 1921

7. David HAMMONS
(American b.1943)
Untitled, 2000
crystal, brass, frosted glass, light
fixtures, hardware and steel
195.6 x 221 x 63.5 cm

8. Doris SALCEDO
(Colombian b.1958)
Untitled
1997

9. Rachel LACHOWICZ
(American)
Homage to Carl Andre, 1991
lipstick
Carl ANDRE
Steel Copper Plain, 1969
Art Gallery of NSW

10. Dagmar HEPPNER
Surface (floor) 2009
Frottage, pencil on paper
109 x 500 cm
“In conceptual art the idea or concept is the
most important aspect of the work. When an
artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means
that all of the planning and decisions are made
beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory
affair.”
LeWitt, S. ‘Paragraphs on Conceptual Art’,
Artforum Vol.5, no. 10, Summer 1967, pp. 79-83

11. Elizabeth DUFFY
Security Envelope Drawing,
2004-14
Pencil on Security Envelope
Collage
40 x 23.5 centimeters

12. Archie MOORE
(Gamilaroi b. 1970)
Kamilaroi Nation 2014
linen.
First Nations Flags as installed at Sydney
Airport, 2018

13. Julie MEHRETU
(Ethiopian/American b.1970)
Untitled (Skybox), 1999
ink and watercolor on three
overlayed vellum sheets pinned
on board
45.7 x 61 cm

14. Ulrike LIENBACHER
(Austrian b.1963)
Untitled, 2008
ink on paper 106,5 x 76 cm

15. Joachim FROESE
(German-Australian b.1963)
Rhopography #33 2003
Silver Gelatin Print, 40 X 90 cm

16. Materiality and Concept/Idea
When looking art works of art (including your own) consider the associations that a material makes -
its ‘built in’ content.
The examples we have seen today use a largely non-traditional range of materials, but all art
materials carry content with them. For example:
Watercolour: decoration, landscape, preparatory, ephemeral
Oil paint: Western canon, modernity, expressionism, male heroics
Graphite pencil: preparatory, ephemeral, correction (palimpsest – time), diagram, writing
In reflecting on the content of your materials, think about their history as well as their properties.
You should also read up on the material and look into its use in art – this will broaden your
understanding of the meanings of your material.
Activity:
For this week’s pre-studio session, please review the 3 images in the Week 9 folder and make some
notes about the ideas that can be attributed to each material. How do these intrinsic ideas reflect the
work’s other symbolic references? Add your notes to your blog and bring your thoughts to class!

18. Richard WENTWORTH
(British b.1947)
Guide, 1983
Yellow Eight, 1985

19. Mike and Doug STARN
Attracted to Light 1 2000-2003
sulfur-toned and tea-stained silver print on
Thai mulberry paper
304.8 x 640.1 cm

20. Elisabeth CONDON
Hello Yellow 2010
Acrylic on linen, 37 x 48
inches