In perceiving art history with a method of structuralism, I'm more than agree with Victor Burgin's proposal that "no art activity … is understood apart from the codes and practices of the society which contains it", but in a more practical, or mundane context of dealing with art in our daily lives, I have to disagree with the phrase that "art in use is bracketed ineluctably within ideology". I have no objection to the concept that ideology deeply influence contemporary art practice, and I value the conceptualists' efforts to break the traditional forms and even abandon the content of art. However, art is not only about revolution and evolution. Victor Burgin, as many other theorists of post modernism, somehow exaggerate the importance of concept over content, while I think for the public, with a more general comprehensive expectation, content and concept of an artwork should share the same attention. In another word, art should always speak for itself without introduction or artist statement clarifying its underling concepts.
When we talk about ideology within art, we presuppose that thoughts and ideas happen before the formation of art, because concept generates art content, and actually in art school we always encourage students to have a proposal of concepts before creating art, but we overlook the fact that art could be instinct. Subconsciousness is there with or without Freud and Lacan's psychoanalysis. Although most contemporary artists always have an ideology beyond their work content, it's hard to say whether those concepts are imposed afterwards. Georgia O'keeffe always denies her paintings suggest vaginal, but theorists still enforce us to believe that she delivers a feminist view through paintings of nature. There are too much over interpretation and imposed ideology in contemporary art, which are unnecessary and sometimes ridiculous, thus it can be dangerous if we still propose concept over content in art practice—we may lose the original purity and simplicity of art appreciation.
I volunteer at Creativity Explored San Francisco, an institution provides artists with developmental disabilities the means to create, exhibit, and sell their art in studios and gallery. Artists there usually cannot state their intentions or concepts beyond their artworks, but their talents and passions in art are obvious without further explanation. Albert Meyer depicts figures and architecture in bold black outlines, with an abstract expression. He always can’t tell me why he's doing that, but concepts here are nothing compared to his seriousness with his artwork—while drawing Meyer removes his glasses and works just inches away from the paper surface. His work (see the picture below) shares the essence of cubism and pop art, but he may never notice that. Content overrides concept in this case, and it doesn't reduce the art's value in any sense.
