Duchamp Reading

I'm pretty sure if Duchamp saw any of my photos or work for this class he'd scoff and dismiss me immediately. He is blatantly against "retinal" work, things produced merely to be pleasing to the eye, as well as commercialism. Unfortunately, I'm guilty of both. I take pictures of things because I think they're pretty, or because I know other people will think so. Sunsets, flowers, and girls make up a majority of my portfolio. I also plan on making art into my career. I expect cash in return for my work. I am what Duchamp considers an "integrated artist". I have fallen into the vicious cycle of "producing for the market" and using my art as a tool to get ahead.

It's hard for me to comprehend artists like Duchamp because what he stands for is so foreign to me. I wouldn't think to take every day objects, sign them, and get pleasure from it. I don't blindly create pieces just for the sake of doing so. I can't imagine myself doing these things, and yet I'm amused by others who do. I enjoy listening to people argue whether or not a signed urinal is a piece of art. Duchamp's nonchalant attitude toward his own fame and work entertains me. How can someone supposedly so influential in the art world not want to toot his own horn every now and then? He shies away from everything mainstream with such conviction and somehow finds another form of expression to utilize.

One of my favorite quotes from the reading was this:

“It's not easy to be nonsensical, because nonsensical things so often turn out to make sense.”

It's true. So many ideas have already been appropriated by other artists or thinkers that it's almost impossible to come up with something completely unique and fresh. Even for our "alter an everyday activity" exercise we managed to make sense out of seemingly bizarre occurrences. We are always finding inspiration from the past or from our peers without even recognizing it. But Duchamp stands alone. When he was considered a Cubist by others, he left that technique for another. When his painting wasn't appreciated the way he saw fit, he wasn't afraid to take it home with him. His work is original and unprecedented because he purposely strove for it to have that quality. It doesn't matter if we think what he created is art. To a self-proclaimed "agnostic in art," labels don't really make that much of a difference anyway.