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 News

Jackson Pollock Moonlit as the Guggenheim’s Maintenance Man—and 4 Other Unlikely Side Jobs Famous Artists Once Held at New York Museums

by Annikka Olsen

Jackson Pollock Moonlit as the Guggenheim’s Maintenance Man—and 4 Other Unlikely Side Jobs Famous Artists Once Held at New York Museums

In 2020, Blue-Chip Art Businesses Flocked to the Hamptons. Are They in It for the Long Haul?

by Eileen Kinsella

In 2020, Blue-Chip Art Businesses Flocked to the Hamptons. Are They in It for the Long Haul?

Editors’ Picks: 18 Events for Your Art Calendar This Week, From a Chat With the Guerrilla Girls to the Music That Inspired Basquiat

Editors’ Picks: 18 Events for Your Art Calendar This Week, From a Chat With the Guerrilla Girls to the Music That Inspired Basquiat

Mel Bochner Artworks

Mel Bochner (851 results)

Out of Bounds, 1987

Mel Bochner

Out of Bounds, 1987

Sale Date: May 11, 2016

Auction Closed

Kvetch, 2013

Mel Bochner

Sale Date: May 10, 2016

Auction Closed

It doesn't get any better than this, 2014

Mel Bochner

It doesn't get any better than this, 2014

Sale Date: May 1, 2016

Auction Closed

Everybody is Full of Shit, 2012

Mel Bochner

Everybody is Full of Shit, 2012

Sale Date: April 25, 2016

Auction Closed

Amazing, 2013

Mel Bochner

Amazing, 2013

Sale Date: April 27, 2016

Auction Closed

Four Color Quartets (Set of 4), 1990

Mel Bochner

Four Color Quartets (Set of 4), 1990

Sale Date: March 29, 2016

Auction Closed

HEAD HONCHO, 2011

Mel Bochner

HEAD HONCHO, 2011

Sale Date: March 15, 2016

Auction Closed

Threshold, 1982

Mel Bochner

Threshold, 1982

Sale Date: March 4, 2016

Auction Closed

Counting: Asymptotic Zones (9), 1972

Mel Bochner

Counting: Asymptotic Zones (9), 1972

Sale Date: March 4, 2016

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1973

Mel Bochner

Untitled, 1973

Sale Date: March 4, 2016

Auction Closed

Counting: (Interlocking Squares), 1997

Mel Bochner

Counting: (Interlocking Squares), 1997

Sale Date: March 1, 2016

Auction Closed

Range, 1997

Mel Bochner

Sale Date: March 1, 2016

Auction Closed

Counting Alternatives Series (The..., 1972

Mel Bochner

Counting Alternatives Series (The..., 1972

Sale Date: February 29, 2016

Auction Closed

AMAZING, 2012

Mel Bochner

AMAZING, 2012

Sale Date: March 3, 2016

Auction Closed

Blah Blah Blah

Mel Bochner

Blah Blah Blah

Sale Date: January 21, 2016

Auction Closed

Untitled (from the Couples portfolio), 1996..., 1996

Mel Bochner

Untitled (from the Couples portfolio), 1996..., 1996

Sale Date: December 15, 2015

Auction Closed

Untitled (R.Y.B.) (on 4 joined sheets), 1995–1996

Mel Bochner

Untitled (R.Y.B.) (on 4 joined sheets), 1995–1996

Sale Date: December 10, 2015

Auction Closed

Blah, Blah, Blah, 2010

Mel Bochner

Blah, Blah, Blah, 2010

Sale Date: November 19, 2015

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1984

Mel Bochner

Untitled, 1984

Sale Date: November 16, 2015

Auction Closed

Blah Blah Blah, 2014

Mel Bochner

Blah Blah Blah, 2014

Sale Date: November 19, 2015

Auction Closed

Untitled from Four x Four x Four..., 1968–1990

Mel Bochner

Untitled from Four x Four x Four..., 1968–1990

Sale Date: November 5, 2015

Auction Closed

Schism, 1983

Mel Bochner

Sale Date: November 11, 2015

Auction Closed

Extent, 1977

Mel Bochner

Sale Date: November 11, 2015

Auction Closed

On, On/Over, On/Under, On/Over/Under, Over, 1972

Mel Bochner

On, On/Over, On/Under, On/Over/Under, Over, 1972

Sale Date: November 11, 2015

Auction Closed

Previous 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Next

English (US)

©2024 Artnet Worldwide Corporation. All rights reserved.