Conceptual Art: The Untold Story of African Art

Abstract

Conceptual art is one of the twentieth century art movements that has gained popular attention in the contemporary artworld. It has received much scholarly prominence in the Western world, and perceived as an emergent art of European origin. What has been given little or no scholarly attention is the African essence of root of conceptual art movement. This article addresses the historical epochs of conceptual art in Africa and delves into the critical question of whether or not conceptual art is an emergent art in Africa. With the help of the images of African artworks, this article attempts to find visual answers by examining the art-historical account of the art through visual analysis in simple narrative format in telling the African side of the story. It concludes that the adoration and idolization of Marcel Duchamp as the father of conceptual art is contestable since the art was many centuries old in Africa before the twentieth century artists began to practice it in the West. Duchamp’s attempt at dematerialization of art, and showing distaste to the traditional aesthetics of Western art at the time through conceptual exploration had been in practice in African art and, therefore, not an invention. Keywords: