Inspired by Sol Lewitt’s “Sentences on Conceptual Art,” Crystal Baxley and Stefan Ransom asked 35 local artists to record original compositions - one corresponding to each sentence.
Sentence #24 points out that “perception is subjective.” Nevertheless, we felt compelled to highlight a few exceptional works.
18. Dragging An Ox Through Water - One usually understands the art of the past by applying the convention of the present, thus misunderstanding the art of the past.
19. Davis Hooker - The conventions of art are altered by works of art.
20. Wanda and Wonder - Successful art changes our understanding of the conventions by altering our perceptions.
21. Jake Phelps-Ransom - Perception of ideas leads to new ideas.
26. Giggles feat. Like A Villain - An artist may perceive the art of others better than his own.
Several artists from the SOCA compilation perform tomorrow night for the release show at Holocene.
From Crystal Baxley and Stefan Ransom:
“Songs on Conceptual Art is a compilation album of original songs based on Sol LeWitt’s Sentences on Conceptual Art.
Two-disc 12″ vinyl LP features hand silk screened jackets and comes with a letterpressed poster of Sol LeWitt’s Sentences on Conceptual Art and a card to download the album for free online. This 35 track album is only available in a limited edition run of 350 and is a split with labels Teenage Teardrops, Awesome Vistas and Marriage Records.
Featuring songs from: Lucky Dragons, Brendan Fowler, Dragging an Ox Through Water, White Rainbow, Jib Kidder, Crazy Band, Bobby Birdman, Karl Blau, Dunes, SAFE, Jackie O Motherfucker, Jordan Dysktra, ARP, Deer or the Doe, Caspar Sonnet, Secret Circuit, White Fang, Larry Yes, Spencer Moody, Sun Foot, Crystal & Stefan (us!,) The Polyps, Rob Walmart, DAVIS HOOKER, Wanda and Wonder, Jake Ransom, Megazord, John Rau, Art Husband, Giggles, Boron, 90 Billion Raindrops, LA Ladies Choir, Deep Fried Boogie Band, and Cross Country Club.
For Songs on Conceptual Art, Crystal Baxley and Stefan Ransom
invited musicians to compose original songs inspired by Sol LeWitt’s Sentences on Conceptual Art (1969). LeWitt wrote this list of 35 statements at a time when artists were radically expanding notions of what art could be and what artists could do, with proclamations like “Ideas can be works of art” (Sentence #10). To expose this significant text to a larger public, artist John Baldessari improvised melodies to each of the 35 sentences in his 1972 video piece Baldessari Sings LeWitt.
Inspired by Baldessari’s intention to open up the Sentences to new audiences, Baxley and Ransom asked a different musician to create a song for each sentence. Some of the musicians used the text verbatim, some of the musicians altered, expanded upon or commented on the text, and some didn’t use words in their songs at all. Sentences were assigned sentences on a first-come, first serve basis, and the songs are in the order of the original text.”
to start downloading tracks.
