Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Conceptual Art: Set work beside statement and order everything by the record, not by drama
- Type
- Set in Conceptual Art's manner (Plain office grade type presenting the definition exactly as written), and let Fluxus's lettering (Write each instruction as one imperative line and print it still open to reading) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Conceptual Art's material (Cheap carriers such as photostats, typescript, index cards and wall writing); bring in exactly one thing from Fluxus (Found objects, paper, wooden boxes, cheap printing, no signature or scarcity).
- Colour
- Build on #efede7, #898986, #1d1d1c and admit one accent from #ece6d7, #c43d31, #22201d.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Conceptual Art Styling the surface to look administrative without a rule or question anyone can test leaves only curt graphic design. Change what counts as the work, including structure, site and the relation to the audience.
- Fluxus Imitating random instructions and plain boxes settles nothing about ownership, authority and the audience's role, and a score framed on the wall without ever being performed loses the premise of action and participation.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Conceptual Art (style, mid-1960s–1970s) and their accent from Fluxus (style, early 1960s–late 1970s). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Conceptual Art exists for: exhibitions or research presentations that show procedure and definition instead of a finished object, or participatory projects where published rules let other people carry out the work. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Conceptual Art - Words and definitions - Instructions and rules - Documentary photographs - Dematerialization Composition: Set work beside statement and order everything by the record, not by drama. Type and lettering: Plain office grade type presenting the definition exactly as written. ## Accent comes from Fluxus, used sparingly - Event scores - Boxes and multiples - Everyday actions - Anti-art humor Let one material quality come from it: Found objects, paper, wooden boxes, cheap printing, no signature or scarcity. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #efede7, carry the structure in #898986 and #1d1d1c, and let a single accent come from #c43d31. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: rebellion, trust, calm, play, intimacy. ## What goes wrong - Conceptual Art: Styling the surface to look administrative without a rule or question anyone can test leaves only curt graphic design. Change what counts as the work, including structure, site and the relation to the audience. - Fluxus: Imitating random instructions and plain boxes settles nothing about ownership, authority and the audience's role, and a score framed on the wall without ever being performed loses the premise of action and participation. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Conceptual Art mid-1960s–1970s / Style / Postwar American Art
Puts the idea at the center of the work and presents it through words, definitions, rules, documentation and placement, caring little for finish as an object.
- Fluxus early 1960s–late 1970s / Style / Avant-garde
Values the act and the participation above the finished piece, working in scores, boxes, cheap multiples, performances and events until the border between art and daily life gives way.
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