Using a prescription to direct the creation of a work, the artist's hand subordinated to the artist's thoughts, in direct contrast to the Abstract Expressionist movement earlier in the century.

"When an artist uses a conceptual form of art…the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes the machine that makes the art." -—Sol LeWitt

Actions, forms, and adjectives were broken down into terms, serially repeated, and reconfigured: grids, lines, shapes, colour, directions and starting points are several examples. These directives and constructs fueled an influential career of vast variety, subtlety and progression.