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Organized
by the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge and circulated
by the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery with the works from
The University of Lethbridge Art Collection, The Alberta Foundation
for the Arts, Nickle Arts Museum, Paul Kuhn Gallery and private
collections
For
the Conceptual artist, the document is a necessary, albeit secondary
platform for many works used simply as a means to record, present,
and communicate ideas, process and information.
In
Documents: Survey of Conceptual Art, the works by leading Canadian
Conceptual artists: Iain Baxter, Garry Neill Kennedy, Gerald Ferguson,
Eric Cameron, Michael Snow, Joyce Wieland, General Idea, Tim Zuck,
Arlene Stamp, Walter May and Gordon E. Ferguson are discussed and
presented alongside the art of such the international classics as
Sol LeWitt, Christo, Ad Reinhard, Vito Acconci, John Baldessari,
and Tony Cragg among others.
Dedicated
to providing students direct contact with professional artists,
NSCAD initiated two extraordinary programs: the Lithography Workshop
(1969-1976) and NSCAD Press.
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Documents:
Survey of Conceptual Art
Organized
by the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge and circulated
by the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery with the works from
The University of Lethbridge Art Collection, The Alberta Foundation
for the Arts, Nickle Arts Museum, Paul Kuhn Gallery and private
collections
Artists
have relentlessly pursued the "meaning of art" for generations and
during this quest art has been both transformed and liberated. The
seeds of Conceptual Art  were
planted in 1915 with the arrival of French artist Marcel Duchamp
in New York. His "ready-mades", or found objects, flew in the face
of high art doctrine and set the stage for generations of future
artists to challenge the status quo. By the mid-1960s, many artists,
heavily armed with Minimalist ideals, believed that purity could
only be attained by distilling art to its very essence. What if
one were to strip away the paint, wood, canvas, marble, plaster,
or any material altogether? Does the artwork cease to exist? The
Conceptual artists will readily answer "Not at all", insisting that
the essence of art has little to do with the privileged "object"
and is instead found rooted in the "idea".
The
term of "Conceptual Art" was coined by American Minimalist artist,
Sol LeWitt,  in
1967, and emerged as a means to question and critique the authority
of the object institutionalized both in museums and in modern economies
while articulating ideas about anti-materialism and creative freedom.
This aggressively anti-authoritarian agenda proved an effective
outlet for social and political protest during a turbulent period
of sit-ins, walkouts, race riots and rebellions. As a rejection
of the formal aesthetic tendencies so heavily entrenched in institutional
history, and to explore the possibilities of 'art-as-idea', artists
substituted a romanticized tradition of the beautiful object with
mathematical systems, semiotic structures, process-oriented compositions,
performances and scientific analysis of their work. Often the only
way to witness this newly "dematerialized" work was in the form
of the document.
 For
the Conceptual artist, the document is a necessary, albeit secondary
platform for many works used simply as a means to record, present,
and communicate ideas, process and information. Photography and
text are the predominant mediums, however, maps, telegrams, postcards,
found objects, film and sound recording are frequently employed.
A Conceptual artwork might range from a typed sheet of paper to
snapshots of tract housing but almost invariably they will maintain
a detached aesthetic profile in favour of a provocative and stimulating
idea.
 Conceptual
Art has been less visible in recent years as many artists refuse
to enlist in a singular movement, although it is far from extinct
and its impact is remarkably unshakable. Contemporary artists today
retain a keen interest in the theory and objectives of their conceptual
predecessors and repeatedly use similar strategies to investigate
their own interests. Despite its influence, it is only recently
that many of the contributions made by Conceptual artists are being
recognized by exhibitions, such as Documents. This exhibition reveals
a broad survey of Conceptual Art intended to introduce a historically
significant development in art and to provide visitors the opportunity
to observe how this work continues to inform contemporary art in
the 21st Century.
 In
Documents: Survey of Conceptual Art, the works by leading
Canadian Conceptual artists: Iain Baxter, Garry Neill Kennedy,
Gerald Ferguson, Eric Cameron, Michael Snow, Joyce Wieland, General
Idea, Tim Zuck, Arlene Stamp, Walter May and Gordon E. Ferguson
are discussed and presented alongside the art of such the international
classics as Sol LeWitt, Christo, Ad Reinhard, Vito Acconci, John
Baldessari, and Tony Cragg among others.
Ryan
Doherty
Guest Curator
 Documents:
NSCAD Connection
The
Art of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
In the
fine arts we operate on the premise that we do not know what art
is, however, we do know that the student must participate in the
formation of his program if it is to be meaningful. Our obligation
to the student in fine arts is to expose him to professional people
and provide him with the best possible facilities and equipment,
which will allow him the most fruitful kind of exploration.
Garry
Neill Kennedy, President, NSCAD (1967 - 1990)
written for a 1968 issue of artscanada
 The
philosophy outlined above was intended to reflect the vision of
Halifax's newly expanded Nova Scotia College of Art and Design,
an institution devoted to reinventing the means and methods of education
in the arts. It was not long after that Kennedy's ambitions were
put to the test when Gerald Ferguson, Art History Department Head,
and Seth Sieglaub, a New York critic and curator, began plans to
facilitate an International conference. Featuring a hot list of
leading artists (among them Iain Baxter, Joseph Beuys, Robert Morris,
Robert Rauschenberg, Michael Snow and Lawrence Weiner), the Benson
& Hedges sponsored conference quickly degenerated into a widely
criticized event, considered by many of the invited artists as exploitative
and commercially driven. Nevertheless, the exposure had a profound
effect and NSCAD was soon a familiar name, touted as an internationally
relevant institution and leading force in post-minimal and conceptualist
art.
Dedicated
to providing students direct contact with professional artists,
NSCAD initiated two extraordinary programs: the Lithography Workshop
(1969-1976) and NSCAD Press. Together with influential exhibitions
at The Anna Leonowens Gallery on the NSCAD campus, these resources
had an unparalleled effect on the College attracting an astonishing
roster of visiting artists and faculty including Vito Acconci, John
Baldessari, Iain Baxter, Joseph Beuys, Eric Cameron, Les Levine,
Robert Smithson, and Lawrence Weiner. NSCAD became a major factor
in what has been deemed a 'renaissance in lithography' and was heralded
as an innovative center both conceptually and technically. Moreover,
with Conceptual artists preoccupied with subverting aesthetic conventions,
production methods, commodity forms and distribution modes, NSCAD
Press was a natural ally producing artist books and other publications
including Michael Snow's Cover to Cover, and Donald Judd: The Complete
Writings 1959-1975. As developments in art shifted and interest
in conceptually-driven work waned, the Lithography Workshop and
NSCAD Press inevitably closed, however not without having left an
exceptional legacy.
It is
worth noting that NSCAD has recently launched a new program to recognize
and preserve the exceptional and influential work produced during
this important era. The NSCAD ARCHIVE PROJECT, a joint venture between
the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and NSCAD stated its aim is to "locate
and collect important representative works of faculty and graduates
of the college who have made a significant contribution to Nova
Scotia, Canada and the world through committed art practice."
When graduates
from NSCAD spread throughout North America as artists, teachers,
curators and other professionals, a strong relationship was soon
formed with The University of Lethbridge. Alumni such as Eric Cameron,
Dagmar Dahle, Julie Duschenes, Gerald Ferguson, Glen MacKinnon,
Robin Peck, Catherine Ross and Nick Wade have all come to Lethbridge
as visiting artists, lecturers, or faculty members bringing with
them a dedication to arts education based on the principles established
at NSCAD. Allan MacKay became the Southern Alberta Art Gallery's
first Director and established what would become an internationally
renowned reputation. Jeffrey Spalding arrived at The University
of Lethbridge with an energy and enthusiasm that, as both Director/Curator
and Professor of Art, dramatically influenced the institution's
profile as a centre for art education, housing one of the nation's
finest collections of art.
It is
through this relationship and the generosity of Garry N. Kennedy
that resulted in the remarkable donation of more than 80 works of
art in 1987. Some of the works in this exhibition segment are selected
from this donation, all are significant examples of Conceptual art,
and all were produced at NSCAD's Lithography Workshop.
Ryan Doherty,
Guest Curator
List
of the above images:
- Eric
Cameron - Cup, Saucer and Spoon, 1992; acrylic and gesso on a
cup, saucer and spoon. Collection: University of Lethbridge Art
Collection.; gift of the artist, 1993. Photo courtesy of the artist.
- John
Baldessari - I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art, 1971; lithograph
on paper, PP/50. Collection: University of Lethbridge Art Collection;
gift of Mr. Garry Neill Kennedy, 1987. Photo courtesy of the artist.
- John
Greer - Y.D. Klein, 1974; lithograph on paper, 2/2. Collection:
University of Lethbridge Art Collection; gift of Mr. Garry Neill
Kennedy, 1987. Photo courtesy of the University of Lethbridge
Art Gallery.
- Sol
LeWitt - Lines to Specific Points (Portfolio of 5), 1975; aquatint,
ink on paper, ed. 13/25. Collection: University of Lethbridge
Art Collection; gift of Vivian and David Campbell, 1988. Photo
courtesy of the artist.
- Gerald
Ferguson - 1,000,000 Pennies, 1979; 1,000,000 Canadian pennies.
Collection: University of Lethbridge Art Collection; installed
by the artist at the National Gallery of Canada, 1999. Photo courtesy
of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
- Gordon
E. Ferguson - Flair, 1996; steel, wood, fiberglass chair. Collection:
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton. Photo courtesy
of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
- Walter
May - High Chairs, 1990-91; tin, aluminum, steel. Collection:
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton. Photo courtesy
of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
- Walter
May - Untitled, 1979; graphite, feathers, bamboo on paper. Collection:
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton. Photo courtesy
of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
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