Posted on 12/02/2004 6:26:37 AM PST by presidio9
A porcelain urinal is the most influential work of modern art, according to a survey released Wednesday.
The poll of 500 arts figures ranked French surrealist Marcel Duchamp's 1917 piece "Fountain" an ordinary white, porcelain urinal more influential than Pablo Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," Andy Warhol's screen prints of Marilyn Monroe and "Guernica," Picasso's searing depiction of the devastation of war.
Duchamp pioneered the use of everyday objects as art, an aesthetic that questioned the nature of art itself.
Art expert Simon Wilson said the choice of Duchamp's urinal "comes as a bit of a shock."
"But it reflects the dynamic nature of art today and the idea that the creative process that goes into a work of art is the most important thing the work itself can be made of anything and can take any form," he said.
The survey was conducted by Gordon's Gin, which sponsor's Britain's leading art prize, the Turner Prize. The winner of this year's Turner Prize is due to be announced next Tuesday.
Stories like this one that denigrate art and conflate it with craftsmanship really piss me off.
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The survey was conducted by Gordon's Gin
'Nuff said.
Me too....further indication of debasement of both......
Sitzpinklers.
Note Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" in post three. Crucifix in a beaker of the artist's urine.
It amazes me that this non-art was being foisted on the public as early as 1917. This looks like present day bad taste.
Survey was correct. Duchamp's "Fountain" was the piece that began the trend of the artist being a con man. I could write for hours about how destructive Duchamp was, but suffice it to say that most nihilism in modern art came from him. Modern art might be something decent, if he hadn't been around.
No.....I won't....you can't make me.....I refuse to take note of that blashphemous non-art......
Form Follows Function.
Pissah!
Wow. That really puts this nonsense into perspective. Blows it away.
It does sum up much of modern art.
Pablo Shrugged
"Sculpture is what you back into when you are trying to look at a painting"
What Duchamp was demonstrating was that anything, when put in the right context, could be art. That was a radical idea for its time.
Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.
-Frank Zappa
Actually dadaism represented a cri de coeur against the shallow pomposity and self-importance of the 'arts community' (artists and critics) of Duchamp's time. Our modern 'degenerate' artists are just as shallow, just as pompous (if not moreso) and just as self-important as the crowd Duchamp tweaked. I wonder where he alive today whether he'd actually be in their camp, or whether he'd be doing thing to point out how silly they are.
[g]
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