Sol LeWitt quotes

Artists teach critics what to think. Critics repeat what the artists teach them. (Sol LeWitt)
Minimal art went nowhere. View quote
Sol LeWitt
Just as the development of earth art and installation art stemmed from the idea of taking art out of the galleries, the basis of my involvement with public art is a continuation of wall drawings. View quote
Sol LeWitt
Artists of many diverse types began using simple forms to their own ends. View quote
Sol LeWitt
In my case, I used the elements of these simple forms - square, cube, line and color - to produce logical systems. Most of these systems were finite; that is, they were complete using all possible variations. This kept them simple. View quote
Sol LeWitt
Artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach. View quote
Sol LeWitt
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. View quote
Sol LeWitt
The idea becomes a machine that makes the art. View quote
Sol LeWitt
In conceptual art the idea or the concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art. This kind of art is not theoretical or illustrative of theories; it is intuitive; it is involved with all types of mental processes and it is purposeless. It is usually free from the dependence on the skill of the artist as a craftsman. View quote
Sol LeWitt
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. View quote
Sol LeWitt
Just as the development of earth art and installation art stemmed from the idea of taking art out of the galleries, the basis of my involvement with public art is a continuation of wall drawings. As soon as one does work on walls, the idea of using the whole wall follows. It means that the art is intimately involved with the architecture. It is available to be seen by everyone. It avoids the preciousness of gallery or museum installations. Also, since art is a vehicle for the transmission of ideas through form, the reproduction of the form only reinforces the concept. It is the idea that is being reproduced. Anyone who understands the work of art owns it. We all own the Mona Lisa. (Sol LeWitt)
Minimal art went nowhere. Conceptual art became the liberating idea that gave the art of the next 40 years its real impetus. All of the significant art of today stems from Conceptual art. This includes the art of installation, political, feminist and socially directed art. The other great development has been in photography, but that too was influenced by Conceptual art. View quote
Sol LeWitt
Minimalism wasn't a real idea - it ended before it started. View quote
Sol LeWitt
A blind man can make art if what is in his mind can be passed to another mind in some tangible form. View quote
Sol LeWitt
You shouldn't be a prisoner of your own ideas. View quote
Sol LeWitt
Also, since art is a vehicle for the transmission of ideas through form, the reproduction of the form only reinforces the concept. It is the idea that is being reproduced. Anyone who understands the work of art owns it. We all own the Mona Lisa. View quote
Sol LeWitt
All of the significant art of today stems from Conceptual art. This includes the art of installation, political, feminist and socially directed art. View quote
Sol LeWitt
Conceptual art became the liberating idea that gave the art of the next 40 years its real impetus. View quote
Sol LeWitt
When artists make art, they shouldn't question whether it is permissible to do one thing or another. View quote
Sol LeWitt
The other great development has been in photography, but that too was influenced by Conceptual art. View quote
Sol LeWitt
The thinking of John Cage derived from Duchamp and Dada. I was not interested in that. (Sol LeWitt)
Buying books was a way anyone could acquire a work of art for very little. View quote
Sol LeWitt
The narrative of serial art works more like music than like literature. View quote
Sol LeWitt
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. View quote
Sol LeWitt
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. View quote
Sol LeWitt