Marcel Duchamp was a French artist who challenged the traditional concept of artistic processes and helped changed the way that art was marketed. He championed a new art-form called “ready-mades”. Ready-mades are found objects which are presented as art. Duchamp has had a great effect on American artists including Connor, Levine, Lawler, Wilson and Ruscha.
Bruce Connor is renowned for his work various mediums including film, drawing, sculpting, and collage. His work with film is reminiscent of Duchamp because it is like found film clip art. By taking clips of film, editing them and re-editing them to form short movies, Connor was able to create interesting works of film art. Connor describes Duchamp’s impact on the art world in an interview with Elizabeth Armstrong as “you can use Duchamp as a reference for almost all subjects as far as art is concerned”. In the interview he also described his apprehension toward talking to such a legend in the art world and how Duchamp’s work was characterized with “questioning”.
Sherrie Levine is most well known for her photography and appropriation art. Her photography artwork was somewhat controversial because she took pictures of other peoples artworks and presented them as her own. She actually recreated Duchamp’s”Fountain” in 1991, painting it bronze instead of leaving the urinal porcelain white. In an interview with Martha Buskirk, it is clear that Levine has been influenced by Duchamp. Buskirk even describes some of Levine’s processes and artworks as “very Duchampion”. Her work is also riddled with ready-mades, a term coined by Duchamp in 1915.
Louise Lawler is a photographer whose work focused on the presentation and marketing of artwork. Similar to Sherrie Levine, Lawler photographed the artwork of others. She describes her beginning in the art world in an interview with Martha Buskirk. Lawler did not fully understand the connection and relation that her art and Duchamp’s art had. Her art work involved lots of questioning and careful thought much like Duchamp and she also used odd mediums that were the same or similar to create art. Lawler even took photos of Duchamp’s artwork and used the shadows to play with the artwork as well.
Fred Wilson is an American artist who questioned the interpretation of art and artistic value because it was shaped by cultural institutions. He is most well known for examining, questioning and destructing the traditional display of art. In an interview with Buskirk, Wilson makes it clear that his work questions the way that museums and galleries display art. Wilson worked as both a museum curator and an artist so he claims to be well aware of what both parties are looking for. Wilson considers himself a “conceptual artist”, taking items from the museum and rearranging/recombining them to create a sense of surprise for visitors and viewers. This is similar to Duchamp because he wanted viewers of his art to be surprise and question the work.
Edward Ruscha came onto the art scene during the pop-art movement and became well known for his paintings, printmaking, drawing and photography. His paintings were usually focused on words and his artwork often took the form of odd mediums. In an interview with Elizabeth Armstrong, Ruscha describes his artwork and how Duchamp changed the art world. Duchamp made people think about his artwork instead of presenting them with a painting that can be enjoyed visually but does not challenge the viewer to interpret the work and its value. Ruscha describes Duchamp’s greatest contribution to the art world as that “he discovered common objects and showed you could make art out of them. He was also one of the first artists to use electric motors to create motion in art. He played with materials that were taboo to artists at the time; defying convention was one of his greatest accomplishments.” Ruscha talks a great deal about how Duchamp has changed the niche that art fills.
It is clear by reading these artist interviews that Duchamp has had a great effect on the creation and interpretation of art and artists. He not only effected mediums of art but also how people thought about and marketed art. His innovation in the area of ready-mades created a new type of art for future artists to replicate and build on.
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