Sol LeWitt Quotes about Art

Obviously a drawing of a person is not a real person, but a drawing of a line is a real line.

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.

New materials are one of the great afflictions of contemporary art. Some artists confuse new materials with new ideas.

A blind man can make art if what is in his mind can be passed to another mind in some tangible form.

The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.

When artists make art, they shouldn't question whether it is permissible to do one thing or another.

The system is the work of art; the visual work of art is the proof of the System. The visual aspect can't be understood without understanding the system. It isn't what it looks like but what it is that is of basic importance.

What the work of art looks like isn't too important. It has to look like something if it has a physical form. No matter what form it may finally have it must begin with an idea. It is the process of conception and realization with which the artist is concerned.

One usually understands the art of the past by applying the conventions of the present thus misunderstanding the art of the past.

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.

Ideas alone can be works of art; they are in a chain of development that may eventually find some form. All ideas need not be made physical.

Minimal art went nowhere.

When words such as painting and sculpture are used, they connote a whole tradition and imply a consequent acceptance of this tradition, thus placing limitations on the artist who would be reluctant to make art that goes beyond the limitations.

In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work

All of the significant art of today stems from Conceptual art. This includes the art of installation, political, feminist and socially directed art.

A work of art may be understood as a conductor from the artist's mind to the viewer's. But it may never reach the viewer, or it may never leave the artist's mind.

What the work of art looks like isn't too important.

During the '70s I was interested in words and meaning as a way of making art.

Conceptual art is only good if the idea is good.

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.

The other great development has been in photography, but that too was influenced by Conceptual art.

Buying books was a way anyone could acquire a work of art for very little.

Conceptual art became the liberating idea that gave the art of the next 40 years its real impetus.

I was not interested in irony; I wanted to emphasize the primacy of the idea in making art

The narrative of serial art works more like music than like literature.