Mel Bochner experimented with a range of styles before finding his eventual success as a pioneer in Conceptual art. An audacious 1966 show at School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhattan that he presented, “Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art,” remains a seminal touchstone for Conceptualism.
Bochner was born to a Pittsburgh sign painter in 1940. While attending the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon) in the late 1950s, he studied color theory and modernist movements as well as classical drawing, a balance that was formative in his career. After graduation, he moved to San Francisco, creating paintings influenced by Clyfford Still and Jean Dubuffet.
It wasn’t until Bochner “found his way out of the labyrinth of late Abstract Expressionism,” as he put it to The Brooklyn Rail, that he began to create his most meaningful work. Following a stint auditing philosophy classes after a friend introduced him to the work of Heidegger, Bochner relocated to New York, finding work as a guard at the Jewish Museum. In Manhattan, he ran in the same circles as Dan Flavin, Brice Marden and Donald Judd.
“One of the conversations going on in New York in the late ’60s was about the relationship of the object to the art experience,” Bochner said. “...Younger artists like myself were talking about what it would mean to eliminate the object altogether.” This idea would become the foundation of the Conceptual movement, in which Bochner was instrumental. The artist is probably best known for his text-focused paintings, including a series that plays with the phrase “Blah Blah Blah.” He produces work that regards art as an experience, rather than an object, centering on the process of creation and viewership as opposed to the finished product.
Bochner’s “Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art” featured drawings, notes and outlines from the likes of Milton Glaser, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt and others as well as pages from Scientific American. Bochner, then an art history professor at SVA, photocopied the assemblage of works, added them to binders and positioned them on pedestals for the exhibition because the show’s organizers lacked the funds to frame the pieces.
Bochner’s works can be found in the collections of many major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Find original Mel Bochner prints and other art on 1stDibs.
Price Upon Request
BLAH BLAH BLAH
By Mel Bochner
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Rare early Mel Bochner painting - unique - oil on canvas - exhibited at Peter Freeman New York Signed, dated, titled to verso
Oil, Canvas
$4,995
H 36 in W 48 in
"Northern Breeze" (2025), Original Contemporary Barn, Oil Painting on Canvas
By Justin Wheatley
Located in Denver, CO
Justin Wheatley's "Good Morning" is an original, handmade acrylic painting depicting a city scene with a basketball hoop. Justin Wheatley was born and raised in Clinton, Utah. He ho...
Canvas, Oil
$1,000
H 24 in W 24 in D 1.5 in
"My Horizon - Las Vegas" Abstract Color Field Contemporary Painting on Canvas
By Cindy Shaoul
Located in New York, NY
An acrylic and oil on canvas piece with bright use of color and texture. We are focused on the simplicity of beauty in the moment as Shaoul creates a translucent but very colorful pa...
Acrylic, Oil, Canvas
$8,391
H 86.62 in W 70.87 in D 1.46 in
Large Contemporary Horse Oil Painting. Man on horseback, 220 x 180 cm
By Rubins J. Spaans
Located in ALP, ES
This large figurative oil painting is a reinterpretation of a painting by John Wootton, Portrait of a man on horseback, ca. 1740. A unique oil painting on the finest quality Belgian ...
Canvas, Linen, Oil
$4,021
H 28.75 in W 45.67 in
Casamance River by Calo Carratalá - Waterscape painting, Senegal, Africa, palms
By Calo Carratalá
Located in Paris, FR
Casamance River is a unique oil on canvas painting by Spanish contemporary artist Calo Carratalá, dimensions are 73 × 116 cm (28.7 × 45.7 in). The artwork is signed, sold unframed a...
Canvas, Oil
$11,072
H 76.78 in W 51.19 in D 1.97 in
The republican picnic Stéphane Fauchille Contemporary art painting colour humour
By Stéphane Fauchille
Located in Paris, FR
Oil paint on canvas Unique work Hand-signed by the artist Stéphane Fauchille, dream anthropologist “Would you, for a moment, like to become the Claude Lévi-Strauss of the aborigin...
Canvas, Oil
Negative People Oil Painting
By Fred Yates
Located in London, GB
Negative People Oil Painting By Fred Yates A captivating oil painting featuring Fred Yates' famous figures, painted in his classic style, with his vibrant colour palette and expre...
Canvas, Oil
$6,876
H 35.04 in W 57.09 in D 1.97 in
Alien invasion Stéphane Fauchille Contemporary art painting colour humour
By Stéphane Fauchille
Located in Paris, FR
Oil paint on canvas Unique work Hand-signed by the artist Stéphane Fauchille, dream anthropologist “Would you, for a moment, like to become the Claude Lévi-Strauss of the aborigin...
Canvas, Oil
$1,850
H 18 in W 18 in D 1.5 in
"Pizzicato", Contemporary Landscape, Orange, Blue, Green, Red, Oil Painting
By Marcia Wise
Located in Franklin, MA
“Pizzicato” by Marcia Wise is an 18 x 18 x 1.5 inch oil painting which is part of her “Tree” series in which the artist explores the early Autumn changes of color in greens, blues, s...
Canvas, Oil
$3,080
H 30 in W 24 in D 1.5 in
"Vibrante", Contemporary Landscape, Blue, Red, Yellow, Orange, Oil Painting
By Marcia Wise
Located in Franklin, MA
“Vibrante” another dynamic, textured and colorful oil by Marcia Wise in stunning blues, reds, magentas, and yellow-orange-golds. Mark making with brushes and fingers, the earth tones...
Canvas, Oil
$4,800
H 26 in W 50 in D 2.5 in
"Into the Light", Abstract Landscape, Blue, Red, Orange, Yellow, Oil Painting
By Marcia Wise
Located in Franklin, MA
Marcia Wise’s oil painting “Into the Light,” is a large piece, 26 x 50 inches, filled with bold blues, magentas and violets, as well as a lighter mix of oranges, yellows with hints o...
Canvas, Oil
$3,600Sale Price|25% Off
H 47.25 in W 31.5 in
Zebras, 120x80 cm, acrylic, oil, canvas
By Elizeveta Pugacheva
Located in Yerevan, AM
Sometimes the landscape can tell more than figurative works. Thanks to emigration, I increasingly use new colors and forms. Gray-blue tones have been replaced by bright red and acid...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
$20,000
H 48 in W 60 in D 1.5 in
"Always and Forever" Large Contemporary Figurative Oil Painting, Woman in White
Located in Carmel, CA
Rizaldy Celi Jr. (American, Filipino-Vietnamese, born 1983) "Always and Forever" 2025 Oil paint on canvas, stretcher bars Signed on verso. “Always and Forever” is a cinematic piece,...
Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars
Irascible
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
Oil painting with embossing on black velvet by American conceptual artist Mel Bochner. Signed by Bochner and dated in ink on the stretcher.
Oil
BLAH BLAH BLAH
By Mel Bochner
Located in Aventura, FL
Hand signed and dated on front by the artist. Original monoprint with collage, engraving and embossment on hand-dyed Twinrocker handmade paper. Frame size approx 17.75 x 18.25 in. ...
Handmade Paper, Engraving, Monoprint
Blah Blah Blah
By Mel Bochner
Located in New York, NY
Blah Blah Blah 2014 monoprint, with collage, engraving, embossment on hand dyed Twinrocker handmade paper Mel Bochner (American, b.1940) is one of the pioneers of Conceptual Art....