I Hate Art!
As as aspiring artist, there isn't any artwork that I don't like. An artwork is much more than its visual appearance and sometimes it's all about the concept behind it. Although some might be more controversial than others, I acknowledge the importance it has in Art History. For this reason, I chose to talk about a piece of art that has changed our perception of art and that many doesn't even consider a piece of art - the "Fountain" (1917) by Duchamp.
This artwork was presented for the first time in 1917. He submited it to the 'Society of Independent Artists’ salon in New York. It is an example of a readymade sculpture (an object manufactured that the artist chose or maybe modified). The board of this society thought this was a joke and rejected the artwork. Duchamp, who was a member of the board itself, resigned as a sign of protest. Later he wrote:
"No, not rejected. A work can’t be rejected by the Independents. It was simply suppressed. I was on the jury, but I wasn’t consulted, because the officials didn’t know that it was I who had sent it in; I had written the name “Mutt” on it to avoid connection with the personal." (Duchamp, n.d.)
Duchamp wanted to see the response of the society to this, he wanted to get them upset and question what is art, what constitues art and who gets to decide what is art and what is not. As Morgan (n.d.) explains, the piece is significant due to the visual argument that the concept behind a work of art is imporant if not more than the object itself.
It was created more than one hundred years ago and it is still a topic of discussion which means that Duchamp achieved his main goal: create controversy and make people doubt. This piece of art changed our perception of art and deeply influenced the movements that came afterwards. Curiously, the "Fountain" (1917) was acclaimed by 500 art world professionals the most influential artwork of the 20th Century in 2004.
Reference:
Grovier K. (2017) The Urianl that Changed How We Think [online] BBC, Available from: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170410-the-urinal-that-changed-how-we-think [Accessed 03.06.2021
Mann J. (2017) How duchamp's Urinal Changed Art Forever [online] Artsy, Available from: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-duchamps-urinal-changed-art-forever [Accessed 03.06.2021]
Jones C. (2019) Great Works of Art: Duchamp's Fountain [online] Christopher P Jones, Available from: https://christopherpjones.medium.com/great-works-of-art-duchamps-fountain-900a4acb4307 [Aceessed 04.06.2021]
Remes J. et al. (2017) 100 years later Duchamp's Foutain still influential [online] Iowa State University, Available from: https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2017/04/10/fountain [Accessed 04.06.2021]
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