Sol LeWitt
Sol LeWitt
Solomon "Sol" LeWittwas an American artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionConceptual Artist
Date of Birth9 September 1928
CountryUnited States of America
simple artist ends
Artists of many diverse types began using simple forms to their own ends.
simple color squares
In my case, I used the elements of these simple forms - square, cube, line and color - to produce logical systems. Most of these systems were finite; that is, they were complete using all possible variations. This kept them simple.
successful simple ideas
Most ideas that are successful are ludicrously simple
successful simple artist
Most ideas that are successful are ludicrously simple. Successful ideas generally have the appearance of simplicity because they seem inevitable. In terms of idea the artist is free to even surprise himself. Ideas are discovered by intuition.
american-artist artist factory producer seen turns
The artist is seen like a producer of commodities, like a factory that turns our refrigerators.
american-artist became deciding interested needed project serial starting system understood work
I became interested in making books, starting about 1965, when I did the Serial Project #1, deciding that I needed a small book to show how the work could be understood and how the system worked.
art ideas ifs
Conceptual art is only good if the idea is good.
art thinking saving
I didn't want to save art - I respected the older artists too much to think art needed saving. But I knew it was finished, even though, at that time, I didn't know what I would do.
intelligent intellectual enough
One should be intelligent enough to know when not to be too intellectual
new-experiences judgement irrational
Irrational judgements lead to new experience.
art formal art-is
Formal art is essentially rational.
art important looks
What the work of art looks like isn't too important.
beautiful artist play
[The artist's aim is] not to instruct the viewer, but to give him information... . The artist would follow his predetermined premise to its conclusion, avoiding subjectivity. Chance, taste, or unconsciously remembered forms would play no part in the outcome. The serial artist does not attempt to produce a beautiful or mysterious object but functions merely as a clerk cataloguing the results of his premise.
art ideas form
Also, since art is a vehicle for the transmission of ideas through form, the reproduction of the form only reinforces the concept. It is the idea that is being reproduced. Anyone who understands the work of art owns it. We all own the Mona Lisa.