The New Conceptualists
Lecturer Jeremy McDonnell entertained about 100 listeners at the Harwood Museum of Art, Sunday, Aug. 28, in his conversation about “NOD NOD WINK WINK: CONCEPTUAL ART IN NEW MEXICO AND ITS INFLUENCES.†McDonnell divided the lecture into three parts, which might be illustrated by the following: Conceptual Art, Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs (1965), pictured; Minimal Art, artist Donald Judd, Ohne Tite Stack; and post minimalist, Bruce Nauman, Human Need Desire. While conceptual art privileges the “idea†over its execution, the artists pictured generally concern themselves with form and craft to create objects—whether they have a hand in the production or not.
As McDonnell pointed out, “Nod Nod†depicts a conversation about ideas regarding art among artists that began with the response to abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, for instance. In a caveat, we might quickly add that artists very often resent labels even as labels have proliferated. McDonnell’s lecture put the show in the context of a conversation across time and space. He also pointed out how the proliferation of topical responses to the times create challenges for the viewer and, particularly, buyers, who may want to resell an object later. The lecturer alluded to the explosion in the number of artists during the last forty years or so and commensurate number of works available for consumption. Fast moving trends mean investments in contemporary might be risky indeed.
Indeed, the best way to approach “NOD NOD WINK WINK†is as if you’re attending an evening of stand up comedy. The Harwood Museum of Art functions as a prism of history or repository of objects and ideas. You can walk backwards from the current conceptual show to Agnes Martin’s abstract expressionism, touch base with the early Taos moderns or the Taos founders, check out the Spanish Colonial furniture or check in with the magnificent Cady Wells show. The latter show resonates with expressionism underneath its representative depiction of the land and culture of New Mexico. You might take your leave after checking out, one more time, wood carver Patrocino Barela’s variations on Santo making, which sculptures coalesce rather nicely around the high point of primitive modernism in the last century.
Appropriately enough, the Harwood monitors turned off the lights during McDonnell’s enlightening lecture so I couldn’t continue taking notes. Here I must rely on the foibles of memory. When somebody outside the world of philosophy talks about ideas in laymen’s language, I’m never quite sure what they mean. Apparently, these conceptual objects represent the effect of the idea. The conceptualists are playing at the “art game,†I take it.
Given the current state of the post-modern world of critical theory, think diversity, relativism, and fragmentation, one might drown while trying to remember all the various “isms.†McDonnell gravely hinted at the end of post-modern theory in response to a question from a local artist, Marsha Oliver, who mentioned aesthetic tradition and beauty, that timeless standard. The lecturer alluded to the possibility of an end to this, the postmodern era, and who knows, a return to beauty?  It’s a bit scary.
The logical end of post modernism or the direction in which conceptualism is leading, despite “earth art†and the influence of sci-fi cinematic techno feats, suggests the new artists may offer an even more subtle response to the times than can be quantified by the  vocabulary of art jargon. Given the trivialization of current artistic efforts, due to the proliferation of forms and excessive commodification by the markets, not to mention the downturn in the economy and the growing concern with the excessive carbonization of life on the planet, the (new) avant garde may come to exist only in the thought and imagination of the artist’s mind.
The new conceptualist or poster child of the future may well be modeled on the thinker, not the doer or sayer. If the idea or imaginative construct precedes its execution and is perfectly formed in the mind, why bother with the expense and suffering associated with production and craft? If you share the idea with the public, a critic, or even another artist, something will inevitably be lost in translation, thus detracting from the original concept. Few writers or artists achieve the perfection in practice of the creative vision that resides in their minds.
Just as politics has become more and more about campaigning or talking points but not about governing or implementing actions, so the new conceptual conversation may become ever more solipsistic and less public. Ultimately the new artists will save time and money, while conserving their sanity and escaping frustration. Perhaps the Taos Slacker or white-haired retiree seen at coffee shops is a typical of this new artist: the consumer and maker of unshared but imaginative ideas.