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Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

CONCEPTUAL STYLE

In 1967, artist Sol LeWitt wrote that in “Conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.” He was giving a name to an art movement that had emerged in the 1960s in which artists were less focused on their medium being something traditionally “artistic” and instead engaged in using any object, movement, form, action or place to express an idea.

LeWitt’s work was featured alongside an assemblage of notes, drawings and outlines by other artists in “Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art,” a groundbreaking show at New York City’s School of Visual Arts curated by Mel Bochner, another leading exponent of Conceptualism. Building on radical 20th-century statements, like Fountain (1917) by French artist Marcel Duchamp, Conceptual artists around Europe and North and South America were not interested in the commercial art scene and rather directly challenged its systems and values.

Stretching into the 1970s, this movement has also been called Post-Object art and Dematerialized art. Conceptual art reflected a larger era of social and political upheaval. Pieces associated with the style range from Roelof Louw’s Soul City (Pyramid of Oranges) (1967) — a work of installation art that sees fresh oranges stacked into a pyramid from which visitors are allowed to take one orange away — to On Kawara’s “Today” series, which saw the Japanese artist carefully painting a date in white acrylic on canvases consisting of a single color from 1966 to his death in 2014. Artists such as Ed Ruscha, who created the Twentysix Gasoline Stations book — a collection of photos of gas stations that is widely said to be the first modern artists’ book — made photography a major platform for Conceptual art, as did Bruce Nauman, who burned one of Ruscha's books and then photographed it for his own.

Conceptual art’s legacy of questioning artistic authorship, ownership and how to work with complex ideas of space and time had a significant influence on the decades of culture that followed, and it continues to inform art today.

The collection of Conceptual photography, paintings and sculptures on 1stDibs includes artworks by John Baldessari, Jenny Holzer, Lawrence Weiner, Joseph Kosuth and others.

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Style: Conceptual
Color:  White
HIJOS
Located in Madrid, ES
The series They fly are twelve works, six in Spanish and six in English. In it, six concepts are represented in both languages: time, opportunities, children, imagination, news and money. All of them related to sayings, proverbs and popular expressions that make them fly. Time flies. Opportunities fly. Children fly. Imagination flies. The news flies. Money flies. The series They fly represent these concepts literally by flocks of starlings. For each concept a textual work is created (a visual poetry, a concrete...
Category

2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Canvas

#2209G, David Jones, Ink on Paper, Contemporary Minimalist drawing for sale
Located in Deddington, GB
#2209G by David Jones [2022] original and hand signed by the artist Ink on Paper Image size: H:40 cm x W:29 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:40 cm x W...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

TIME
Located in Madrid, ES
The series They fly are twelve works, six in Spanish and six in English. In it, six concepts are represented in both languages: time, opportunities, children, imagination, news and money. All of them related to sayings, proverbs and popular expressions that make them fly. Time flies. Opportunities fly. Children fly. Imagination flies. The news flies. Money flies. The series They fly represent these concepts literally by flocks of starlings. For each concept a textual work is created (a visual poetry, a concrete...
Category

2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Canvas

OPPORTUNITIES
Located in Madrid, ES
The series They fly are twelve works, six in Spanish and six in English. In it, six concepts are represented in both languages: time, opportunities, children, imagination, news and money. All of them related to sayings, proverbs and popular expressions that make them fly. Time flies. Opportunities fly. Children fly. Imagination flies. The news flies. Money flies. The series They fly represent these concepts literally by flocks of starlings. For each concept a textual work is created (a visual poetry, a concrete...
Category

2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Canvas

TIEMPO
Located in Madrid, ES
The series They fly are twelve works, six in Spanish and six in English. In it, six concepts are represented in both languages: time, opportunities, children, imagination, news and money. All of them related to sayings, proverbs and popular expressions that make them fly. Time flies. Opportunities fly. Children fly. Imagination flies. The news flies. Money flies. The series They fly represent these concepts literally by flocks of starlings. For each concept a textual work is created (a visual poetry, a concrete...
Category

2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Canvas

NEWS
Located in Madrid, ES
The series They fly are twelve works, six in Spanish and six in English. In it, six concepts are represented in both languages: time, opportunities, children, imagination, news and money. All of them related to sayings, proverbs and popular expressions that make them fly. Time flies. Opportunities fly. Children fly. Imagination flies. The news flies. Money flies. The series They fly represent these concepts literally by flocks of starlings. For each concept a textual work is created (a visual poetry, a concrete...
Category

2010s Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Canvas

RIC: Random Internet Cat #9
Located in New York, NY
Random Internet Cats 
Robotically-fabricated drawings on paper, these series formally deal with mediation from screen image to ‘drawing’ while using a computer-controlled pen plotte...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper

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Conceptual drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Conceptual drawings and watercolor paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add drawings and watercolor paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of purple, orange, blue and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Peter Soriano, Lidzie Alvisa, Patricia Smith, and Iain Baxter. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Ink and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Conceptual drawings and watercolor paintings, so small editions measuring 3.5 inches across are also available. Prices for drawings and watercolor paintings made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $175 and tops out at $40,000, while the average work sells for $1,760.

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