My older brother will be graduating in two weeks with his degree in Philosophy from Kings College in NYC. My younger sister is about to start her journey in the same field of study. So I thought, "Hey, I'll skip out on all this impossible, existential question mumbo jumbo and study.... art!"
Boy was that an incredible misconception. The question "What is Art" is a million times harder than "Is the spoon there?" The spoon is there, trust me. But whether "Fountain" by Marcel Duchamp is art is no walk in a park...
I wrote this a while ago, but still wanted to post as food for thought...
In 1917 an art gallery held an open non-censored show to anyone who would pay the $6 entry fee (equal to $126 today) Duchamp went out and bought a urinal, signed it, placed it on its side, titled it "Fountain" and sent in his submission fee. The curator of the exhibition actually did exclude this piece but it caused an uproar over why, which led to the ultimate question "What is art?"
I don't know. Thats my current stance. however, in the case of "Fountain" I do have some thoughts. The 'Ready Made' Genre of art such as "Fountain" is not art at all, but a plagiarism of the arts. Someone had to design the urinal, and create it from bare materials. Duchamp signing it and placing it on its side 'making the viewer see it differently' is not art, it is him claiming someone else's work as his own by changing the view.
Now, when this discussion broke out in Art History 2, a fellow classmate pointed out to me that I have a lightbulb in my sculpture displayed in the student art show, is that not plagiarism? No. It is not, because my sculpture is not a lightbulb, it is a firefly. If you look at it from a writing perspective, is it plagiarism to use words that someone else has used? No, its how you order and use those words that makes an original piece. Similarly in art, I don't know anyone who makes his or her own pencils and paper to draw on. At some point you are using materials someone else designed and created. Going all the way back the the ultimate creator, God Almighty, the Creator of the Universe. Now you say "Yea Anderson, but Duchamp took someone else's work (the urinal) and just rearranged it in space." Okay, I do agree with you there, in the end what this piece needs is to give credit where credit is due, When viewing "Fountain" the only credit of artistic work that goes to Duchamp is composition, but all the other elements of design, form line, value, contrast, go the the original designer of the urinal.
See what I mean about this being an impossible question...
More to come but this is just food for thought, congratulations by the way if you actually read all these ramblings of an art student.
