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Sol LeWitt Quotes

d. 2007 United States

Solomon "Sol" LeWitt (September 9, 1928 – April 8, 2007) was an American artist linked to various movements including conceptual art and minimalism. His mediums are predominantly painting, drawing, and structures (a term he prefers in opposition to sculpture.)

United States
Painters

Also known as: LeWitt, Sol

Random Sol LeWitt quote

7 quotes

Minimalism wasn't a real idea – it ended before it started.

Bomb (2003)

The artist’s aim is not to instruct the viewer, but to give information, whether the viewer understands the information is incidental to the artist.

The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.

Sol LeWitt (1965)

Artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.

The ideas need not be complex. Most ideas that are successful are ludicrously simple. Successful ideas generally have the appearance of simplicity because they seem inevitable.

The artist’s will is secondary to the process he initiates from idea to completion.. ..His wilfulness may only be ego.. ..The process is mechanical and should not be tampered with. It should run its course.

The artist is seen like a producer of commodities, like a factory that turns our refrigerators. I believe that the artist's involvement in the capitalist structure is disadvantageous to the artist and forces him to produce objects in order to live.

Art Institute of Chicago. Video Data Bank (1992)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Sol LeWitt (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.