Skip to main content

Conceptual Mixed Media

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.

to
1
2
1
1
1
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
159
57
43
26
8
5
3
2
2
2
1
1
37
287
7
9
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Style: Conceptual
Period: 1970s
Untitled 3 from "No!" Says the Signified, signed proof, aside from the ed. of 40
Located in New York, NY
Shusaku Arakawa Untitled 3 from "No!" Says the Signified, 1973 Lithograph and Silkscreen on Arches Paper with Deckled Edges Hand signed and dated on the lower right front Artist's Pr...
Category

1970s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Lithograph, Screen, Pencil

Enrico Embroli Mixed Media Sculptural Canvas Ceramic 1970's Rare Framed Painting
By Enrico Embroli
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original unique mixed media painting and sculptural creation by well listed artist Enrico Embrolli. Enrico Embroli is a mixed media artist born in the small Western New York town...
Category

1970s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Ceramic, Animal Skin, Oil

Related Items
Life Size Sculpture of Human figure on Horse: 'Golden Pegasus Armor'
Located in New York, NY
Inspired by amateur archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann who discovered Troy and by past elaborate hoaxes like that of the Piltdown Man, Joshua travels the world performing sta...
Category

2010s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Leather, Resin, Paint

Ed Ruscha, Some Los Angeles Apartments - Artist's Book, Conceptual Art, Pop Art
Located in Hamburg, DE
Ed Ruscha (American, b.1937) Some Los Angeles Apartments, 1965/1970 Medium: Artist’s book (black offset printing on 100 lb. white Vicksburg Vellum text paper) Dimensions: 17.8 x 14 x...
Category

20th Century Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Offset

Toolbox 8
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Since the 1950s, Jim Dine’s expansive multimedia practice has spanned painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography, poetry, and performance. Dine was a pioneering member of...
Category

1960s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Lithograph

Toolbox 8
Toolbox 8
H 23.7 in W 18.8 in D 0.25 in
David Hockney's Pool, by Benjamin Thomas Taylor
Located in London, GB
Benjamin Thomas Taylor I Want To Jump In David Hockney’s Swimming Pool With You, 2023 Hand finished screen print on 300gsm Somerset Satin Paper 39 2/5 × 27 3/5 in 100 × 70 cm Editio...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Screen

Bags
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Silkscreen/Collage on Retail Bags
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Screen

Bags
Bags
H 16 in W 20 in D 1 in
Sox, Abstract Silkscreen and Collage by Ray Elman
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Ray Elman Title: Sox Year: 1979 Medium: Screenprint and Collage, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 88/160 Image: 27.75 x 24 inches Paper Size: 38 in. x 32 in. (96.52 cm ...
Category

1970s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Newsprint, Screen

Outsider Art Wall Sculpture: 'It's Time'
Located in New York, NY
Gérard Cambon was born in 1960 in Toulouse (Fr). He has a degree in political science and is a self-taught artist. In the earlier years of his life practiced and experimented with collage and model making. Later, with an interest in old machines and patinas he started collecting old and used objects, tools, and fragments of items whose previous lives remained obvious. When he travels, one of his greatest pleasures is to find materials in antique shops or ironmongeries. In 1994, he began creating Locomobiles and reliefs and presented them to the public for the first time at “La Jeune Peinture,” a Parisian art fair. In 1995 , he stayed during 8 months in the hospital for eight months (leukaemia) where he began preparing and creating plans for new Locomobiles and reliefs. As his health improved, he committed himself to his artwork and during the same year met a Parisian gallery owner who decided to organize a solo show for him, Le Galerie Beatrice Soulie in Saint Germain des Pres. He has shown his work since 1996 in Paris and since 2000 in the United States (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle). He is currently being shown by galleries in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg , Denmark, and the United States. He keeps on trying out new materials (fabric, leather, glass, plants, metals,…) that he integrates into his bas-reliefs: traction engines...
Category

2010s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Metal

Original Vintage Pop Art 1965 Collage Lithograph Larry Rivers Poster Brandeis
Located in Surfside, FL
Larry Rivers Modernist mixed media "Brandeis Show Collage" work on cut paper. (this appears to be a vintage lithograph. It has a label that describes it as watercolor and charcoal on back. It is definitley hand cut.) Signed in several areas and stencilled across center. Work measures approx. 34 3/4" height x 20 3/4" width. Frame measures approx. 38 3/8" height x 26 1/4" width overall including frame. Silver paint loss on frame. Larry Rivers (born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg) (1923 – 2002) was an American artist, musician, filmmaker, and occasional actor. Considered by many scholars to be the "Godfather" and "Grandfather" of Pop art, he was one of the first artists to merge non-objective, non-narrative art with narrative and objective abstraction. Rivers took up painting in 1945 and studied at the Hans Hofmann School from 1947–48. He earned a BA in art education from New York University in 1951. His work was quickly acquired by the Museum of Modern Art. A 1953 painting Washington Crossing the Delaware was damaged in fire at the museum five years later. He was a pop artist of the New York School, reproducing everyday objects of American popular culture as art. He was one of eleven New York artists featured in the opening exhibition at the Terrain Gallery in 1955 along with Paul Mommer, Leonard Baskin, Peter Grippe During the early 1960s Rivers lived in the Hotel Chelsea, notable for its artistic residents such as Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Arthur C. Clarke, Dylan Thomas, Sid Vicious and multiple people associated with Andy Warhol Factory and where he brought several of his French nouveau réalistes friends like Yves Klein who wrote there in April 1961 his Manifeste de l'hôtel Chelsea, Arman, Martial Raysse, Jean Tinguely, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Christo & Jean Claude, Daniel Spoerri or Alain Jacquet, several of whom, like Rivers, left some pieces of art in the lobby of the hotel for payment of their rooms. In 1965, Rivers had his first comprehensive retrospective in five important American museums. His final work for the exhibition was The History of the Russian Revolution, which was later on extended permanent display at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC. He spent 1967 in London collaborating with the American painter Howard Kanovitz. In 1968, Rivers traveled to Africa for a second time with Pierre Dominique Gaisseau to finish their documentary Africa and I, which was a part of the groundbreaking NBC series Experiments in Television. During this trip they narrowly escaped execution as suspected mercenaries. During the 1970s, Rivers worked closely with Diana Molinari and Michel Auder on many video tape projects, including the infamous Tits, and also worked in neon. Rivers's legs appeared in John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1971 film Up Your Legs Forever. From 1940–1945 he worked as a jazz saxophonist in New York City, changing his name to Larry Rivers in 1940 after being introduced as "Larry Rivers and the Mudcats" at a local pub. He studied at the Juilliard School of Music in 1945–46, along with Miles Davis, with whom he remained friends until Davis's death in 1991. Larry Rivers was born in the Bronx to Samuel and Sonya Grossberg, Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. In 1945, he married Augusta Berger, and they had one son, Steven. Rivers also adopted Berger's son from a previous relationship, Joseph, and reared both children after the couple divorced. In 1949 he had his first one-man exhibition at the Jane Street Gallery in New York. This same year, he met and became friends with John Ashbery, and Kenneth Koch. In 1950 he met Frank O’Hara. This same year he took his first trip to Europe spending eight months in Paris, France, reading and writing poetry. Beginning in 1950 and continuing until Frank’s death in July of 1966, Larry Rivers and Frank O’Hara cultivated a uniquely creative friendship that produced numerous collaborations, as well as inspired paintings and poems. In 1951 Rivers’ works were shown at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery where he continued to show annually (except 1955) for about 10 years. In 1954 he had his first exhibition of sculptures at the Stable Gallery, New York. In 1955 The Museum of Modern Art acquired Washington Crossing the Delaware. This same year he won 3rd prize in the Corcoran Gallery national painting competition for “Self-Figure.” Rivers’ also painted “Double Portrait of Berdie” in 1955, which was soon purchased by the Whitney Museum. In 1957 he and Frank O’Hara began work on “Stones,” a collaborative mix of images and poetry in a series of lithograph for Tatyana Grosman’s company ULAE. During this time he also appeared on the television game show “The $64,000.00 Question” where along with another contestant, they both won, each receiving $32,000.00. In 1958 he again spent time in Paris and played in various jazz bands. In 1959 he painted Cedar Bar Menu...
Category

1960s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Lithograph

Artist's Palette - unique mixed media work (from the Estate of Met Museum EVP)
Located in New York, NY
JANE HAMMOND with ARDEN MASON (Jane Hammond is a renowned contemporary artist and Arden Mason is a celebrated 'plein air" painter) Artist's Palette (from the Estate of...
Category

Early 2000s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Plastic, Sailcloth, Chalk, Fabric, Wood, Oil, Mixed Media, Paper

Crow Pot
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Gourd pot sculpture made of traditional materials of pine needles with beeswax sealant, gourd lined with pine sap, oil paint on applied primed canvas, cotton cloth, feathers, loom be...
Category

2010s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Textile, Oil

Crow Pot
Crow Pot
H 15 in W 10 in D 10 in
Rough Fiber Scarf
Located in Dallas, TX
The first edition to wear. The striking orange roughfiber work is brought to life by printing on high-quality satin silk and can be admired or worn....
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Silk, Screen

Sculpture: 'Pair of Chopines'
Located in New York, NY
The artistic collaboration of Kelly Bugden + Van Wifvat has produced a thought-provoking body of sculptures, paintings, and constructions. Nature, childhood memories, and everyday archetypes take shape in unexpected combinations of materials. The works emerged as the tactile and visual senses channeled the ritualistic power and materiality of selected artifacts. The resulting objects exist in a space between what they were originally and what they could become. A wheel, for example, is distorted as if seen through a prism. Their collaboration grew out of years of shaping materials into one-of-a-kind objects. Intuitively, the process of creating with their hands took an inward turn. Prism is a travelogue through memories and dreams, yielding abstract forms that capture moments of transformation. Van Wifvat grew up with eight siblings and studied sculpture and environmental design in Minneapolis at MCAD. In 1979, he opened a storefront art gallery to promote the work of local artists. The space featured printed materials—art books, periodicals, fanzines, and postcard’s. Wifvat moved to New York in 1983 to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons. In 1987, he co-founded Van Gregory & Norton design studio, specializing in convex mirrors and curtain hardware...
Category

2010s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Gesso, Muslin, Wood

Previously Available Items
Sun Down, Mixed Media Collage by Josep Grau Garriga
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Josep Grau-Garriga, Spanish (1929 - 2011) Title: Sun Down Year: 1970 Medium: Mixed Media and Collage on Paper Size: 24 x 18 in. (60.96 x 45.72 cm)
Category

1970s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Mixed Media

Original Drawing and Collage PO148
By Cris Christofaro
Located in Surfside, FL
A good example of hard-edge geometric color field art. Minimalist, Conceptual collage artwork. Cris Cristofaro has been teaching Sculpture, 3-D Design, and Introduction to Design, at...
Category

1970s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Mixed Media

Manipulated Woman
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Josep Grau-Garriga, Spanish (1929 - 2011) Title: Manipulated Woman Year: 1974 Medium: Tapestry Wall Hanging Size: 42 x 28 in. (106.68 x 71.12 cm)
Category

1970s Conceptual Mixed Media

Materials

Tapestry

Conceptual mixed media for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Conceptual mixed media 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 mixed media created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, red, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Kojun, Scott Froschauer, Jo Yarrington, and Cecilia Arrospide. Frequently made by artists working with Mixed Media, and Paper 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 mixed media, so small editions measuring 1 inches across are also available. Prices for mixed media 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 $300 and tops out at $65,000, while the average work sells for $2,500.

Recently Viewed

View All