Lawrence Weiner was a central figure in the formation of conceptual art

Conceptual art

Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...

 in the 1960s His work often takes the form of typographic

Typography

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...

 texts.

Life and career

Weiner was born in the Bronx, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. His work in the early 1960s included six years of making explosions in the landscape of California to create craters as individual sculptures. He is also known during his early work for creating gestures described in simple statements leading to the ambiguity of whether the artwork was the gesture or the statement describing the gesture: e.g."Two minutes of spray paint directly on the floor.." or " A 36" x 36" removal of lathing or support wall..." (both 1968). In 1968, when Sol LeWitt

Sol LeWitt

Solomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism....

 came up with his Paragraphs on Conceptual Art, Weiner formulated his "Declaration of Intent" (1968):

1. The artist may construct the piece.
2. The piece may be fabricated.
3. The piece need not be built.

Each being equal and consistent with the intent of the artist the decision as to condition rests with the receiver upon the occasion of receivership.

Weiner created his first book Statements in 1968, a small 64-page paperback with texts describing projects. Published by The Louis Kellner Foundation and Seth Siegelaub

Seth Siegelaub

Seth Siegelaub is an American-born art dealer, curator, author and researcher. He is best known for his innovative promotion of conceptual art in New York in the 1960s and 70s., but has also been a political researcher and publisher, textile history bibliographer and collector, and a researcher...

, "Statements" is considered one of the seminal conceptual artist's books of the era. He was a contributor to the famous Xeroxbook also published by Seth Siegelaub in 1968.

Since the early 1970s, wall installations have been Weiner's primary medium, and he has shown at the Leo Castelli

Leo Castelli

Leo Castelli was an American art dealer. He was best known to the public as an art dealer whose gallery showcased cutting edge Contemporary art for five decades...

 gallery. Nevertheless, Weiner works in a wide variety of media, including video, film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, books, sound art

Sound art

Sound art is a diverse group of art practices that considers wide notions of sound, listening and hearing as its predominant focus. There are often distinct relationships forged between the visual and aural domains of art and perception by sound artists....

 using audio tape, sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

, performance art

Performance art

In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...

, installation art

Installation art

Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...

, and graphic art. In 2007 he participated at the symposium “Personal Structures

Personal Structures

Personal Structures is an international contemporary art platform, which generates the possibility for artists and art historians to discuss philosophical concepts in art....

 Time-Space-Existence” a project which was initiated by the artist Rene Rietmeyer. In 2008 an excerpt from his opera with composer Peter Gordon

Peter Laurence Gordon

Peter Gordon is an American experimental composer and musician, whose music draws from influences as diverse as jazz, opera, rock and world music...

 – The Society Architect Ponders the Golden Gate Bridge – was issued on the compilation album Crosstalk: American Speech Music

Crosstalk: American Speech Music

Crosstalk: American Speech Music is a compilation album of speech-based music by various composers, poets, visual artists and DJs.- Track listing :# "Declaratives in First Person" – 5:04# "Electroprayer 5.0" Crosstalk: American Speech Music is a compilation album of speech-based music by various...

(Bridge Records) produced by Mendi + Keith Obadike

Mendi & Keith Obadike

Mendi Obadike and Keith Obadike are a married Igbo Nigerian American couple who create music and art. They were both born in 1973. Their music, live art, and conceptual Internet artworks have been exhibited internationally. Mendi is a poet and Keith is a composer and sound designer...

. In 2009 he participated in the art project Find Me, by Gema Alava

Gema Alava

Gema Alava is an artist who lives and works in New York City. Her work, in the form of installation, drawing, photography and art projects, deals with what she calls "contradictory truths", and the capacity to "create a maximum by reversing a minimum." She has received a M.F.A. from the San...

, in company of artists Robert Ryman

Robert Ryman

Robert Ryman is an American painter identified with the movements of monochrome painting, minimalism, and conceptual art. He is best known for abstract, white-on-white paintings. He lives and works in New York.-Early life and career:...

, Merrill Wagner and Paul Kos.

Weiner is represented in New York City by Marian Goodman Gallery, in London by Lisson Gallery, in Paris by Yvon Lambert Gallery

Yvon Lambert Gallery

Yvon Lambert Gallery is a contemporary art gallery founded by Yvon Lambert in 1966. There are two locations; one in Paris and the second in New York City.-History:...

, in Los Angeles by Regen Projects, in Reykjavik by i8 Galleri, and in Tel Aviv by Dvir Gallery.

External links

• Work for the Abbey of Corbigny, "Au pays"
• Guggenheim bio page
  • Lisson Gallery
• Lawrence Weiner in the Video Data Bank
• Homeport
• Lawrence Weiner audio work "Having Been Done At / Having Been Done To, Essendo Stato Fatto A", 1973 (excerpt 2:25) from Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine
  Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine
  Launched from the Lower East Side, Manhattan, in 1983 as a subscription only bimonthly publication, the Tellus cassette series took full advantage of the popular cassette medium to promote cutting-edge downtown music, documenting the New York scene and advancing experimental composers of the time...
  
  
• Artist statement and bio by the Guggenheim in Berlin
• Lawrence Weiner video by Hillman Curtis
• Lawrence Weiner at Dvir Gallery
• Lawrence Weiner at Regen Projects, Los Angeles
• Lawrence Weiner in the House of Art, České Budějovice, Czech Republic