Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp was an artist living and creating artwork in the early 20th century.  Duchamp was involved with the Surrealist and the Dadaist movements.  He changed the way artwork would be created and understood.  Duchamp coined the ready made concept in 1915.  His artwork were existing objects that he either moved into different positions, named or slightly changed by adding another object.  His first ready made object was Bicycle Wheel.  He placed this object upside down on top of a stool.  Duchamp then went on to create other readymades, such as the Fountain (urinal) and the Mona Lisa.  Just by changing the position, adding something small to the object and giving it a title, made the objects that he was using into creative works of art.  Duchamp opened doors for many artists and made it acceptable for artists to go against the norms of what actual "art" was supposed to be.  Duchamp was an intellectual artist thinking about the questions of what art is, and what makes it art, even before Conceptual Art began in the 1970's.  His techniques and artwork opened an entirely different world to artists, making any object, altered or not become art.

In my opinion, I don't consider readymades, like many or the pieces of artwork created by Marcel Duchamp,  to be artwork.  I believe artwork to me isn't just any object.  Although it does show creativity in many ways, and Duchamp opened the art world to take risks outside of what was considered art, I feel that a piece of artwork has to encompass much more than what an object that is or is not altered encompasses.

Mia Powers