Lawrence Weiner Overview

In 1960, Lawrence Weiner used explosions to make a series of craters in Mill Valley, California. A few years later he realized he was spending more time talking about paintings than painting them, so, in keeping with the conceptual aesthetics that... [more]

In 1960, Lawrence Weiner used explosions to make a series of craters in Mill Valley, California. A few years later he realized he was spending more time talking about paintings than painting them, so, in keeping with the conceptual aesthetics that strive for direct and non-objective transmission of intellectual content, he began to work in purely textual forms. He has been exhibiting widely since the '70s, garnering critical acclaim for the gallery installations and books he has created, and the theoretical messages they bear. Weiner's work often consists of large-scale words and phrases adhered to gallery walls. Other times it appears as prints that incorporate minimal imagery, or as books of koan-like word-works. Weiner, making statements such as, "When I use language, I present work that does not impose my take on things, but imposes my perception and my research on an object in a pure art context,' reveals himself as a former philosophy student, ever concerned with investigating the nature of art and the existential status of the artist. [show less]