Mel Bochner: Photographs and Not Photographs

by Mel Bochner

Mel Bochner (born 1940) coined some of Postminimalist and Conceptual art's most characteristic strategies--the gallery as subject, language as material, the photo documentation of works as the work itself, the appropriation of ephemeral materials by other artists--and directed those strategies towards a radical excavation of all that had been rendered peripheral to art's content. In the mid- to late 1960s, Bochner became deeply involved with photography, producing a groundbreaking group of photographs that hover tantalizingly between painting and photography. Mel Photographs and Not Photographs presents reproductions of these early works, as well as the artist's classic 1970 essay "Misunderstandings (A Theory of Photography)" and a selection of wall drawings and paintiings. Bochner has collaborated closely on the design of this beautifully produced volume, the cover of which is made of sturdy plexiglas.

80 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2010

About the author

Mel Bochner was an American conceptual artist. Bochner received his BFA in 1962 and honorary Doctor of Fine Arts in 2005 from the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.