Viva La Liberte!

My husband and I were just put up against the wall recently with a fully loaded rule book pointed straight at us, and told we needed to abide to said rules or suffer the consequences. Fortunately, Brad has just as much of a rebellious spirit as I do, and we both decided to graciously walk away from the confines that were being laid out before us. Viva la liberte! The situation made me think of so many artists that have been considered defiant because they didn’t “play along nicely”, or theydid play along nicely, just not the way others wanted them to play. Freaks, rebels, weirdoes, devils in disguise….call them what you will, they changed the course of history because of their willingness to go beyond the expectations and break the norms.

Portrait of Marcel Duchamp

Let me tell you a quick story about Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp was an artist that submitted an art piece to an exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in 1917 in New York City. He was on the selection committee, therefore, the art piece that he submitted was signed using another name; R. Mutt. The deal was that anyone could submit art into this exhibition as long as they paid an entrance fee. There was much deliberation on the committee regarding this art piece, and they ultimately decided to hide the art piece from being displayed. Duchamp resigned from the committee. What on earth could the art piece possibly have been, you might ask, to cause such controversy?! It was a urinal. Duchamp went to the store, bought a urinal, changed its positioning, signed it R. Mutt, and submitted it in the show.

Some of you might be absolutely outraged to think that Duchamp would even consider that to be art. Some of you might think he was being facetious. Some of you may think he was brilliant. I am hoping you think the latter and this is why. The people on the committee had a confined (may I even be bold enough to use the phrase “close-minded”?) perspective of what art is, and were forced into a position of thinking and perhaps re-defining what should be considered when art becomes Art. Duchamp simply felt that the urinal had beauty in its form. When not placed in its typical setting, it purely became an object to be appreciated and stripped of its labels. He also argued that just because he didn’t actually make the urinal, does not mean that it’s not art. The placement of the object created new thought, and THAT is what makes it art.

Right now you might be thinking, WHO ON EARTH WOULD CONSIDER A URINAL TO BE BEAUTIFUL?! Who said art had to be beautiful? I have seen enough funny looking babies in my lifetime to know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Who said art has to hang up over your couch? Who said that art has to be “nice” and play by the rules? I always tell my students, you need to know the rules before you can break them. It’s my way of ensuring that they know the foundation of the Arts, and how there is structure and there is beauty in this fantastic world, but that if you just stick with those rules, then you might as well be doing colour by number paintings, because there is no thought going into your work. It is important to push those ideas, even when the status quo may think it’s being a bit too rebellious and shaking their pretty, happy norms.

Picasso hid “Les Mademoiselle D’Avignon” for decades because fellow artists felt he was making a mockery of Modern Art. Cubism became a household name once revealed.

 Monet’s first Impressionist painting, “Sunrise”,  was described as looking like it was scribbled with crayons by a child that was drawing on a moving train. 

Dali was considered to be crooked instead of brilliant when he signed blank pieces of paper before his art work was printed on them (I know I’d much rather have an original signature over a printed one, and they sell for so much more). Banksy is considered a vandal as he spray paints poignant statements on walls around the world.

 And what about Mr. R. Mutt aka Marcel Duchamp? He became the father of “ready-made” art, otherwise known as Found Object Art. He took found objects and transformed them into other things to be used and/or appreciated. Sound familiar? Ever hear of someone turning a pallet into a table, or jewellery being made out of old computer circuit boards? Google “found object art” and when you are looking at all of the beautiful things that are made out of reclaimed materials today, think of Duchamp and his willingness to rebel against the rules to bring concepts like this to you. This art piece is considered one of the most influential pieces of modern art in existence.

Marcel Duchamp

“Fountain”

Glazed ceramic

1917

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

This article was first published in the Northern Sun News, without the pictures because there's never enough room because I always go over my 500 word limit. I can't help it.