July 2009 I believe that conceptual art is 21st century Dada masquerading as philosophy. It lacks the wit of Dada. It means nothing. It is occupying space in arts council funded galleries which would be better employed showing art. I have come to this conclusion after four visits to an exhibition of the work of Lawrence Weiner who is described as the iconic conceptual artist in an information sheet handed to visitors to the show. The exhibition finished recently at Newlyn Art Gallery after being on show for the past seven weeks. Why does the Arts Council fund this sort of activity? Lawrence Weiner Newlyn Art Gallery - views & options 
Here are some quotations from the comments book left near the entrance:- ‘I can understand why admission is free’. ‘Sorry Lawrence, surely five minutes is enough’. ‘Not my kind of art. I prefer traditional’ ‘Nice building, shame about the art’. ‘Would like to see Stanhope Forbes’. ‘Seductive text, ideas humorous’. ‘Liked the playdough’ ‘Tragic waste of space’. ‘Wicked’. ‘Hi Larry, glad to see you are still at it’. ‘Karen Townsend liked it but she ran away’. ‘Emperor’s new clothes.’ ‘Crap’. ‘Gallery space bright’. ‘Lawrence Weiner pointless- all three children used to attend classes before it was too good to organise such things’. ‘Impostures. Vacuous slogans’. ‘Comments kept us far more amused than the art’. ‘V. Disappointed. What is it all about’. ‘Is this art’. ‘What is it all about’. ‘Comment from a professional artist - crap’. ‘Banal’. ‘Lovely’. ‘Marvellous’ ‘Utterly Marvellous’. Do I detect a note of irony? Most of the comments were negative in the extreme. One comment said that the exhibition was difficult but it had to be done. I would ask -- why? Bernard Evans Lawrence Weiner 
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