Mel Bochner

Mel Bochner was a U.S. artist (Pennsylvania, United States, 1940–New York, United States, 2025), recognized as a key figure in the conceptual art developed in New York during the 1960s and 1970s. He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University, where he began to take an interest in the relationship between art, language, philosophy, and perception.

His work is known for the use of words, measurements, systems, repetition, and conceptual structures to question the conventions of painting, drawing, and communication. Through paintings, drawings, installations, photographs, and wall works, Bochner explored how language produces meaning and how an image can also be read as text.

His work is part of collections such as MoMA, the National Gallery of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and SFMOMA. He presented exhibitions in institutions such as MoMA, the National Gallery of Art, The Jewish Museum, Whitechapel Gallery, Haus der Kunst, Fundação de Serralves, and Dia Beacon.