Here is a picture of the art:
Yes, that is a toilet urinal. Duchamp took it from the store, put his name on it, and declared it a work of art (which it is). The Society of Independent Artists rejected the work, even though they had claimed that they would accept anything if the fee was paid. This piece causes one to truly question, "what is art?" Art is everywhere. It isn't necessarily about what it looks like, but more what was in the artist's mind when creating their work. In my opinion, this is one of the most creative ideas to ever come out of the 20th century. It can cause one to think so much deeper than about going to the bathroom. What message was Duchamp attempting to send when he presented this? There have been a number of different interpretations regarding its true meaning and it still is not totally clear what he was trying to say. However, philosopher Stephen Hicks had an interesting theory:
"The artist is a not great creator—Duchamp went shopping at a plumbing store. The artwork is not a special object—it was mass-produced in a factory. The experience of art is not exciting and ennobling—at best it is puzzling and mostly leaves one with a sense of distaste. But over and above that, Duchamp did not select just any ready-made object to display. In selecting the urinal, his message was clear: Art is something you piss on."
In all reality, this artwork could been seen as genius or pretentious. I think it is wonderful. It is an artistic idea unlike any other.
-N.G.
I love the idea that "art is something you piss on." It could make a statement leading to several different interpretations, but I love the broad idea that art is always up for critique, never to be accepted by all, but more often than not, the work created receives more backlash than praise. Duchamp probably, as an artist came across this conclusion and decided to feed into this conclusion and make the haters aware of their unceasing critiques. Good job, way to raise a question that is so central to all of culture.
ReplyDeleteI like your thoughts on this "work of art" as an artist I could call this art and half of me calls this lazy. It's lazy to me because art takes time and it didn't feel very creative.
ReplyDeleteI am actually familiar with this piece an the artist, so I was curious to see what you would say. I feel like you could elaborate more on the artistic movement that Duchamp was a part of, because the history behind this piece is almost as thought-provoking as the piece itself. But yeah, otherwise kudos for bringing to our attention a weird but important art piece.
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