Is Contemporary Conceptual Art a Fraud? This Conceptual Artist Thinks So

“Humbug,” harrumphed Minimalist/Conceptual artist Carl Andre recently in response to a question about Conceptualism in art today. “I think it is humbug myself,” Andre announced, channeling his inner Ebeneezer. “That is my own private opinion… I just don’t believe in Joseph Kosuth’s slogan ‘art as idea as idea’—if it is an idea it has never entered the world.” Surprising words from a surprising source, Andre’s pronouncement on the state of contemporary Conceptualism presents art critics and museums with the odd predicament of defending a school of contemporary art from one of the founding figures of the school itself. If we take Andre at his word, is it time to consider whether contemporary Conceptual art really is (as non-Dickensian Americans would call it) a fraud? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Is Contemporary Conceptual Art a Fraud? ThisConceptual Artist Thinks So."

[Image: Carl Andre. Equivalent VIII (The Bricks), 1966.]