Installation

Thanks, Jose.

Thanks, William.

Thanks, Bob. You're probably familiar with Sol LeWitt's dictum:

"In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art."

The execution here, if not perfunctory, is certainly mechanical, accomplished by a lift truck that is itself the inexorable result of a concept. As my English professor in my first year of university used to say, layers of meaning (I never took another English course, but I guess that's neither here nor there).

My problem with conceptual art is that the work of art itself seems to have no purpose. Why would we want to look at something that is less important than the inevitably murky concept behind it (usually an even murkier concept if the artist provides a supposed explanation of the work)? Write us an essay about the concept.

My own point of view is that this stack is considerably more interesting aesthetically than many formal sculptures in Toronto, for reasons much like Steve's observations below. By aesthetics I mean modification of arousal (heart rate, galvanic skin response, etc.). I haven't measured my galvanic skin response when I look at this, but it's been captivating me since it appeared behind the local supermarket a few days ago. I have to look at it, so I figure a change of arousal is involved somewhere.

If I had my way, I'd reverse LeWitt's idea -- the concept is more important than the art, but it is the art that makes the concept. I try to express no ideas in my photographs, but people (including me) often have ideas afterward about what they mean. The ideas are often quite different, but if you conceive of art this way you're letting the viewers enjoy the intellectual exercise instead of trying to get them to guess about what your intellect was up to.

Thanks, Steve. As I mentioned to Bob, the considerations you mention are ones I consider very important. As I also mentioned to him, I often find informal arrangements like this much more interesting aesthetically than officially approved works of art.