FROM WOOD TO STONE
FROM WHITE TO RED
FROM SEA TO SEA
(BEING WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF A MOVEMENT)
These three works by Lawrence Weiner constitute a perfect example of what Conceptual Art can offer.
Indeed, written language is, for this artist, a material equivalent to the paint or stone used by traditional painters and sculptors.
His works, in the form of ideas, impose no limits on the viewer’s vision, since it is through imagination that they take shape in the mind of the person who encounters them.
In other words, had this artist lived in the time of the Impressionists, he would not have painted “Impression, Sunrise”; he would simply have written this phrase on a wall, allowing us to imagine it through our own feelings.
From his “statements,” Lawrence Weiner has defined three possible modes of exhibition:
- the text is written directly on the wall (as is the case here),
- a material piece is produced by the artist based on the proposition,
- a material piece is produced by a third party (for example, the collector).
The artwork thus serves as a catalyst for reflection, involving the viewer or collector in the very construction of the work itself. Since no finished object is necessarily present, initiatives become possible, and it is this refusal of passive viewing that makes the artist’s approach particularly compelling.
collection: Ghislain Mollet–Viéville
