Lawrence Weiner
Biography
Although self-taught as an artist, Weiner emerged as a leading figure in Conceptual Art gaining international acclaim in the late 1960s. Born in the Bronx, New York, Weiner was best known for his use of language as the primary source for his work. This emerged in 1968, following his earlier experimentations with painting and shaped canvases. His language-based works predominantly take the form of wall installations in galleries, although they have also been spoken as dialogue in video, printed in book format or incorporated into public spaces. In these statements which often centre on materials, actions or processes, Weiner focused on the interaction between the work and the viewer.
Glossary terms
Postmodernism
Late twentieth century art that includes a great variety of styles, so is hard to define but is often characterised as a reaction against the formalism perceived to dominate Modernism. In architecture, it describes a style which borrows from many different traditions and which contrasts with the clarity and simplicity of many modernist buildings.
Readymade
A term coined by Marcel Duchamp in 1913 to describe an existing object that is taken from its original context and regarded as a work of art. The term is broadly applied today to any art that transforms ordinary objects into artworks through a variety of means.