Post-Conceptual and Neo-Conceptual Art

Tracey Emin — My Bed, 1998

This artwork by Tracey Emin, a leading figure of the YBA movement, which originated in the 1990s in London, is an example of a neo-conceptual artwork. Although Tracey Emin has stated several times she is not a Neo-conceptualist as she focuses on personal emotional expression, her works tick all the boxes for Neo-conceptualism. Her works originate from a specific idea or concept, represented by an object in the form of an installation or a ready-made sculpture. The terminology neo-conceptual and post-conceptual both apply to the works of Tracey Emin.

One of her most famous artworks, titled My Bed from 1998, consists of a ready-made sculpture exhibiting her actual bed after a period of drinking, smoking, sex, eating, and more. Conceptually, she exposes her unfiltered self to the art world, resulting in a shocking yet poetic work of art.

Cindy Sherman — Untitled Film Still #21, 1978

Up next, we have one of the most iconic photographs in the world by one of the most iconic female artists in the world. Cindy Sherman’s fine art photography is a perfect example of Post-Conceptual Art. Even though her medium photography is traditional, the foundation of her works is strongly conceptual and could not have been around before Conceptual Art.

For instance, with her world-famous Untitled Film Stills series, Cindy Sherman takes on the two pillars of her oeuvre, the self-portrait, and the female self, as a concept. She depicts herself in artificial contexts in a stereotypical manner, questioning our collective psyche, consumer culture, and the self of female identity.

Gerhard Richter — Two Candles, 1982

Another example of Post-Conceptual Art, post-conceptual painting to be more precise in this case, can be found with arguably one of the most famous painters today: Gerhard Richter. Richter reproduced since the 1970s photographs with painting without being a photorealist. What distinguishes Richter from Photorealists, such as Chuck Close or Richard Estes, is the conceptual way he approached the medium of painting. As a result, his images are clearly post-conceptual but not neo-conceptual due to the medium, form, and craftsmanship.

With Two Candles of 1982, we can identify several of Richter’s conceptual strategies towards painting. The first is his characteristic blurred effect—a haze sitting on top of the image as if the photo is out of focus. Richter suggests a loss of information, similar to oblivion. He draws a parallel between painting and memory as if we are looking at a memory – read: thus an idea – instead of a picture. Here one can find Richter’s motivation for depicting archetypical subjects, as he is not depicting reality but ideas or memories of reality.

The two candles also open up different analogies for interpretation. Richter paints in the tradition of Old Masters, meticulously and ingeniously. When Old Masters depicted a candle, they referred to the presence of God. As Richter depicts two candles in the same picture, one could suggest he questions monotheism or theism as a concept.

Anish Kapoor — Installation View, 2020

The British-Indian Neo-Conceptualist is arguably one of the most important sculptors today. Throughout Anish Kapoor’s impressive body of works, one finds a strongly conceptual undercurrent examining metaphysical schisms of absence and presence. Kapoor reveals and conceals simultaneously.

By exploring new possibilities in art through engineering, the contemporary sculptor and installation artist produces biomorphic forms, creating an interplay in scale, optics, and the object’s relation or interaction with the viewer and its surroundings. With Installation View from 2020, we encounter one of his most successful sculpture formats. Monumental convex or concave biomorphic forms of polished steel bring down the sky to the ground.