The term “Conceptual Art” is based on the simple but revolutionary premise that art should be mainly about ideas instead of material objects. In other words, artists should focus on what they think, not on how things look. Conceptual artists usually set aside the traditional processes of art like painting or carving. [Sol LeWitt, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art] Consequently, their work can be confusing because it does not fit the conventional definitions of what art is and often it doesn't even fit comfortably into the places we associate with viewing art, such as galleries or museums.
One such conceptual artist is Richard Long who essentially makes art out of nature. Some of his pieces are long spontaneous hikes designed to bring art into nature, such as his clockwise spiral walk through central England, entitled A Thousand Miles, A Thousand Hours. Other works include bringing his journeys and hikes into museums and galleries where he draws simple figures like circles out of the sediment from the places he has been. Although, his work may seem very simple and mundane there is a fascinating quality about his work and he is an important conceptual artist who is well worth studying. [www.richardlong
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[BBC Audio Interviews: Richard Long; www. Long has been particularly attracted to the austere beauty of various stone fragments, as can be seen in one of his most recent works Cornwall Summer Circle. Although Long's sculptures conform to a few basic shapes——lines, rectangles and circles——they vary remarkably depending on the artist's choice of stone. His photographs remain the only evidence of these organic sculptures after erosion has run its course. While traveling, Long sets specific tasks for himself, such as traversing an absolutely straight line for a predetermined distance, following the side of a river wherever it may lead, or picking up and then dropping stones at certain intervals along the way. In 1988, Long was given a solo exhibition at Neue Galerie-Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen, in conjunction with his receipt of the Kunstpreis Aachen. His work has been featured in many prestigious galleries and his name has become a popular one in the modern art world. [BBC Audio Interviews: Richard Long] The sculptures are not, therefore, representations of nature per se but rather aesthetic documents of Long's engagement with the land and poetic evocations of the beauty and grandeur of the earth. Lippard, Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972 (N.
In the 1980s, Long began making new types of mud works using handprints applied directly to the wall. He uses the rich silt from the beds of these famous rivers create a series of drawings on paper, as well as large-scale mud drawings applied directly onto museum walls.
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