Mel Bochner

(American, born 1940)

Mel Bochner is an American Conceptual artist best known for his text-based paintings. Bochner’s popular thesaurus painting series consists of lists of synonyms displayed in rainbow-colored palettes, often featuring a single word repeated in painterly capital letters, as seen in his seminal piece Blah, Blah, Blah (2008). “My feeling was that there were ways of extending, or re-inventing visual experience, but that it was very important that it remain visual,” he reflected on introducing text into his work. “The viewer should enter the idea through a visual or phenomenological experience rather than simply reading it.” Born in 1940 in Pittsburgh, PA, he earned his BFA from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1962. Travelling to New York in 1964, Bochner began working as a guard at the Jewish Museum and settled in the city. Like Eva Hesse, Robert Smithson, and Donald Judd, Bochner experimented with ideas that broke away from the dominate Abstract Expressionism of the early 1960s and developed an ongoing commitment to semiotic representation. His influential critical and theoretical essays on art have figured as a central component to his oeuvre. The artist continues to live and work in New York, NY. Bochner’s works are included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., among others.

Mel Bochner Artworks

Mel Bochner (851 results)
Crazy, 2010

Mel Bochner

Crazy, 2010

Sale Date: October 21, 2017

Auction Closed

OBSCENE/MONEY, 2006

Mel Bochner

OBSCENE/MONEY, 2006

Sale Date: September 27, 2017

Auction Closed

Sputter, 2012

Mel Bochner

Sputter, 2012

Sale Date: September 19, 2017

Auction Closed

12

Mel Bochner

12", 1997

Sale Date: August 30, 2017

Auction Closed

Head Honcho, 2010

Mel Bochner

Head Honcho, 2010

Sale Date: August 30, 2017

Auction Closed

Iron Point, 1985

Mel Bochner

Iron Point, 1985

Sale Date: September 28, 2017

Auction Closed

Right On!, 2015

Mel Bochner

Right On!, 2015

Sale Date: June 13, 2017

Auction Closed

Blah, Blah, Blah, 2015

Mel Bochner

Blah, Blah, Blah, 2015

Sale Date: June 13, 2017

Auction Closed

Chuckle, 2015

Mel Bochner

Chuckle, 2015

Sale Date: June 28, 2017

Auction Closed

Amazing, 2016

Mel Bochner

Amazing, 2016

Sale Date: May 31, 2017

Auction Closed

Floating World (portfolio of 5), 1990

Mel Bochner

Floating World (portfolio of 5), 1990

Sale Date: May 27, 2017

Auction Closed

Head Honcho, 2016

Mel Bochner

Head Honcho, 2016

Sale Date: May 16, 2017

Auction Closed

Amazing (inverse), 2014

Mel Bochner

Amazing (inverse), 2014

Sale Date: June 7, 2017

Auction Closed

Thank You, 2014

Mel Bochner

Thank You, 2014

Sale Date: June 7, 2017

Auction Closed

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This, 2014

Mel Bochner

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This, 2014

Sale Date: June 7, 2017

Auction Closed

First Prelude, 1988

Mel Bochner

First Prelude, 1988

Sale Date: May 6, 2017

Auction Closed

Babble, 2012

Mel Bochner

Babble, 2012

Sale Date: April 25, 2017

Auction Closed

Blah, Blah, Blah

Mel Bochner

Blah, Blah, Blah" (+ Background Noise), 2012

Sale Date: May 11, 2017

Auction Closed

VANISHING POINT, 1992–1993

Mel Bochner

VANISHING POINT, 1992–1993

Sale Date: May 1, 2017

Auction Closed

QED, 1974

Mel Bochner

QED, 1974

Sale Date: April 18, 2017

Auction Closed

Rules of Interference, 1974

Mel Bochner

Rules of Interference, 1974

Sale Date: April 18, 2017

Auction Closed

Going Out of Business, 2012

Mel Bochner

Going Out of Business, 2012

Sale Date: January 31, 2017

Auction Closed

GO AWAY, 2010

Mel Bochner

GO AWAY, 2010

Sale Date: January 26, 2017

Auction Closed

Konvolut von zwei Aquatinten, 1989

Mel Bochner

Konvolut von zwei Aquatinten, 1989

Sale Date: December 9, 2016

Auction Closed