Raul Meel, "Conceptualists"

Explanation to the current book

In the current book I mostly present formal game with geometrical images (parallelograms), where I have written in red and black the names of internationally recognised conceptualists-artists and curators, revie-wers, philosophers who have promoted the development of conceptual art.

Only a few of my text-pictures depicts the target author in an immediately recognisable or easily guessable way: Daniel Buren, Hanne Darboven, Christo & Jeanne Claude, Yves Klein... These 154+1 text-pictures nevertheless grow into a poem of visual poetry and sound poetry that could charm the viewer-listener. Its topic is the occurrence of conceptual art in a simple manner – as I felt and understood it in the course of producing this book. My book is naturally not a writing and depicting anthology, it is my manifesting conceptual artwork. Good or bad, better or worse – I do not have to determine that now.

It was a joy of discovery to choose the names of the heroes of conceptual art and playing around with the names, arranging them into simple or more elaborate images. I also used these playful experiences to specify, clear and shape the idea of my book. I was especially enraptured by the lives of geometric text-pictures which did not remain quietudes; it seems to me that they transpire sharply and brightly, wilfully. By naming each author, but not vulgarly and symbol-recognisably picturing, I was telling my subjective and sovereign story as if with objective minimalistic and serial method.

Choosing the names was not easy. I looked through many books, compiled lists, crossed off some names, replaced them with others... until I decided to make the task simpler. I used the excellent book CONCEPTUAL ART, edited by Peter Osborne, New York, first published 2002 in selecting the final list of artists.