Part Two of Midterm: The Duchamp Effect

Duchamp's Fountain


Duchamp's Nude Descending from the Staircase




Duchamp's The King and the Queen Surrounded by Swift Nudes

Duchamp's Air of Paris

The Duchamp Effect is a collection of essays, and interviews with five different artists, throughout the course of the 1990's. Elizabeth Armstrong interviews artists Bruce Conner and Ed Ruscha in the book. The other three artists interviewed, Sherrie Levine, Louise Lawler, and Fred Wilson, are interviewed by Martha Buskirk. Each one of these artists have created their own form of conceptual art that is in some way related to the works of an earlier artist named Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp was born in France on July 28th, 1887. His influence on the art world was one that many people did not understand at first, his pieces appeared very absurd, and unusual. Although some were fascinated by Duchamp's effect on art, it did not receive much accreditation until later on. His pieces were associated with Dadaism and Surrealism, two very unique art forms. Dadaism was a movement that emerged during 1916 and lasted until 1922. It involved different forms of visual arts and literature, such as poetry and art theory, and also forms of graphic design. Dadaism attempted to reject war by dismissing the current standards of modern art. Duchamp's effect on artists is also thanks to surrealist ideas as well. Emerging in the 1920s, the surrealist movement included arts that included different elements of surprise. It is viewed by many as a philosophical movement. Each one of the artists mentioned above create pieces that in some way or another relate to those works of Marcel Duchamp, hence the name for the book, The Duchamp Effect.

Ed Ruscha is the first artist interviewed in the collection of interviews. Ruscha is asked whether or not he believes Duchamp has had an effect on the works of artists today. Ruscha responds by describing Duchamp as the reason for the revolt among modern art. Duchamp changed the traditional view, according to Ruscha; he discovered common objects and displayed how they could be forms of art. In one of Ruscha's pieces in 1965, Apartments, Ruscha introduces that something as simple as an apartment building with some cars in front of it is a form of conceptual art, much like Duchamp's Fountain piece, which simply pictures a urinal. Ruscha's Apartments, shows people what an apartment complex looked like in Los Angeles in the 1960s. The other artist interviewed by Elizabeth Armstrong was Bruce Conner. Conner describes Duchamp's effect as the very idea of questioning; meaning that when you look at Duchamp's work, it makes you question what it is that he is trying to convey to people. The questions that his work arise are good for people, it makes them think hard about that piece and determine what it is Duchamp is trying to show to you. Conner's The Bride presented in The Duchamp Effect truly makes a person wonder what the significance of such a piece could possibly be. The questions that arise introduce the aesthetic of the piece. It is so closely related to many pieces to many pieces of Marcel Duchamp's pieces, such as Nude Descending from the Staircase, and The Kind and the Queen Surrounded by Swift Nudes.

Three other artists were interviewed by a different person in The Duchamp Effect by Martha Buskirk. The first was Sherrie Levine. Levine adopted the aesthetic Duchampian effect in her works as well. One piece focused on in particular in the book is her work, Black Shoes. It establishes ideas of Duchamp. Levine took her last pair of black shoes left from the seventy-five shows she sold at a shoe sale she held. When she decides to take the original readymade shoe and remake it into a fabricated readymade shoe, she is taking an object and exemplifying it's importance to her as a person. Many artists' works consist if the things or objects they value in their own lives, or things they believe others value. Artists portray what they believe to be important objects, and can show people their significance and relationship to the body. Duchamp mastered the idea of portraying different ordinary objects, and turning them into what he believed to be art. Louise Lawler took a different approach to the use of Duchamp's art; she actually used Duchamp's art. Lawler took a picture of Duchamp's piece, Air of Paris. Duchamp purchased an empty ampoule from a close friend, and takes it and turns it into a work of art. The empty ampoule is filled with nothing but air, and Duchamp shows that when it is carefully placed in say a musuem for people to look at, and it has nothing in it, leaving only air. Its not as fascinating as people expect it to be. Lawler takes this piece and took different pictures of it. Using black-and-white photo of the ampoule makes the shadows very prominent in expressing the piece. Playing with shadows in itself is use of Duchampian characteristics, in it's unusual appearance. The black-and-white further enhances the Duchamp effect. The last artist interviewed in The Duchamp Effect is Fred Wilson. Wilson was very different from other artists. He focused on the history of art. When he states that he focused on the history of art through introducing the different pieces in different museums. Wilson's pieces Installation at Seattle Art Museum and Mining the Museum are two pictures that focus on different exhibits in different museums. Wilson is attempting to introduce different aspects of art history and make people think about what event is being presented through is work, much like Duchamp.

Marcel Duchamp was a very inspiring individual to the art world that we know today. Many people do not relaize that the large variety of different forms of art was in large part made possible by him. He introduced things that weren't necessarily created, but contained artistic merit. Ed Ruscha saif this,"...he was a nonpainterly person in a painterly world, who was able to make his views be known without being an intellectual, being in fact a very simple man." Duchamp took himself about of the art world he presently lived in, and created his own art world through what he believed to be art.

Part One of Midterm: Performance Art

Michael Bosanko's Spider in the Desert

No name given for the piece. However, Patrick Rochon is the artist of this piece.

Eric Staller's image of the the city just before sunrise.

The art world is something that changes constantly throughout history, and remains to change today. Artists of all different time periods had their different concepts of what they believed to be art. conflicts have even emerged over among opposing groups arguing about what is and is not some form of art. In today's culture, creating new forms of art does not cause major conflict amongst people like is did preivously. Today, artists create what they believe to be their own forms of art. One new form of art that has recently emerged is art called performance art. Performance art emerged in the 1960s, and was viewed as anything that had action. Rather than just drawing painting a picture, or creating a sculpture, performance art attempts to make the artist think about what action is being presented or is taking place at that time. Creating your own form of performance art is not that hard of a thing for an artist to do. The piece of art that I will be creating is an art referred to as light graffiti. Light graffiti is a different, usual form of art, one that takes place in different areas, with different backgrounds. Some include pitch black darkness, in which the onlly thing seen is the bright lights, commonly called light painting, is the only thing seen. Others include backgrounds with lighted backgrounds. This piece features a baseball player hitting a baseball with his bat. The bat is just hitting the the baseball when the picture is captured. The force of the bat hitting the baseball creates a burst of color going in various directions.

The piece described above is a very unique piece of art, one that really catches a person in action, in this case, a baseball player. It tried to show people the excitement that comes with getting a hit in baseball. When a baseball player connects with the baseball, they know that they have gotten a good hit. It's just the way you connect with the bat. This piece in particular captures the intensity of the moment. The bat connecting with the baseball just right is an exciting thing, which is why there is a variety of colors going off in all different directions for the ball and baseball. The player's eyes are highlighted in red. While the rest of his body is outlined in blue, his eyes are a very bright red. The red eyes are there to show the focus in his eyes. He is determined to get this hit, and he is extremely focused on the ball. His eyes follow the ball from the time it leaves the pitcher's hand to when it hits off the end of his bat.

Many other artists practice this type of performance art. Graffiti artists are what people call them. Graffiti lighting is a very unique, easy way to exemplify the the excitement of a certain event that is taking place. People can get very creative with this form of art, and so whatever it is they want with it. Whether it just is taking a picture and adding the graffiti lights or it be actually performing an action with characters and lights. Some other graffiti artists include Michael Bosanko, Patrick Rochon, and Eric Staller. Micheal Bosanko's pieces deal with light interacting with its surroundings. Patrick Rochon on the other hand, uses light to illuminate those featured in his pieces through photography or video. He captures people in whatever stance they are in and illuminates them with different lights. Eric Staller takes his pieces and focuses every single on of them on New York City. He uses his art to emphasize the different locations in the city. He uses different, weird shapes to exemplify different places in the city.

The piece that was created and discussed above is an excellent example of graffiti art, making it an excellent example of performance art. Many different artists practice this form of art because it is so different, and fun. As seen, there are all sorts of different types of graffiti art. Each artist; Bosanko, Rochon, and Staller each have their own unique form of graffiti art. The piece with the baseball player hitting the baseball would probably be most closely related to the Michael Bosanko pieces. His pieces show different things doing different actions. However, it also includes some of Rochon's characteristics, in that the light exemplifies the baseball player that is hitting the ball. Graffiti art is a very awesome way for artists to get their point across to their viewers. The viewers are more attracted to this form of art because they are actually being entertained by some sort of performance. Performance art has the actual action that actual visual art lacks.