The Dada Movement - Essay Example

?18 March Write a defense, whether you personally like them or not, of Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain” and Bruce Nauman’s “Fountain” as significant works of art The cruel nature of the First World War, which resulted in numerous deaths and mutilations, had a very strong psychological impact on the generation at the time. As a response to the dreadful scenery of mass-destruction brought by the Great War, the artists at the time created an artistic movement known as the Dada movement. Blaming the rationalized political thinking for the appalling outcome of the war, Dadaists supported the irrational and the intuitive. “The Dadaists’ pessimism and disgust surfaced in their disdain for convention and tradition. These artists made a concerted and sustained attempt to undermine cherished notions and assumptions about art” (Kleiner 928). Therefore, the movement came to question former artistic standards by denying any existing connection between reason and logic on one hand and artistic expression on the other hand. Marcel Duchamp was one of the most important representatives of the Dada movement and was also known as a hero of anti-art, because he challenged traditional artistic conventions. One of the facts that earned him this characteristic was his exhibit the ready-made sculptures in 1913. These were casual objects abandoned by their and stumbled upon by the artist on the streets or somewhere else; Duchamp altered or combined them with other objects in order to created the so called ready-mades. This way, the objects lose their utilitarian function and gain an artistic one. One of the most famous ready-mades, which triggered the public’s strong reactions of admiration or disagreement, was the Fountain, which is illustrated in the first image below. It is a porcelain urinal, which Marcel Duchamp altered by adding the signature (“R. Mutt”) and the year of 1917, carelessly written on the left side of the urinal. The signature has its roots in the mundane as well, since “R. Mutt” is not a famous, important name but rather pseudonym which derived from the name of a plumbing company, Mott. Perhaps the name of the readymade is the one that makes the piece so interesting; fountain suggests somewhat the idea of a beautiful architectural monument, while Marcel Duchamp’s fountain is a tribute derived from a simple object that serves basic human physiological needs. Nothing extraordinary, yet somewhat challenging for the human perception. However, I would like to emphasize the fact that Duchamp did not choose to exhibit the Fountain aesthetical purposes, since it would have been a contradiction to the Dada philosophy. Still, even if it does not have an aesthetical role, the Fountain has profound resonances as an important work of art; meaning of this artwork is that it he challenges the viewer to see a simple, ordinary object from a different angle and this way, to gain new a perspective and find a new use for it. Therefore, the Dada movement did not try to create the extraordinary, but merely to put the ordinary into a whole different light and it is hard to imagine a more aggressive avant-garde approach to art (Seigel). Another artist who has also created art that challenges the traditional standards and understandings of traditional artistic thought is Bruce Nauman, an American contemporary artist who is considered to be a performance and conceptual artist. In the mid 1960s he abandoned painting and decided to focus his creative activity towards object making or modern sculpture. This way, by experimenting with different materials, that were not normally associated with an artistic function, such as latex, different kinds of wires, fiberglass, latex, concrete and even wax, he managed to make a very distinctive statement in the art world. At the same time, I believe that it is admirable that he tried to incorporate in his art modern visual aids such as neon lights, video and sounds, trying to create innovative and somewhat shocking, attention grabbing artworks, which would be able to create a deep impression upon the superficial modern individuals. Therefore, Nauman’s works try to access the profound emotional substrate of the viewing public and his creations are vibrant with emotional pull. Nauman’s Self Portrait as a Fountain is an artwork that has certain similarities with Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain. Duchamp is trying to bring a new meaning to a mundane object, while Nauman is trying to put the ordinary, over-explored image of the human body in a new light and find new uses for it. The way the jet of water springs out of his mouth is very similar to a real life fountain, but in Nauman’s case, it symbolizes the many deep levels of human life, of inspiration and imagination- as if the water is coming from the dark corners of the heart, bursting outside with a vigorous need of self expression. The position of the body and the hands up in the air synchronize with the jet of water coming out of the mouth, creating a dynamic and engaging composition that, if looked at long enough, creates a sort of fascination upon the viewer. Self portrait as a Fountain becomes this way a relevant piece of artwork, since it emphasizes the complexity of the human emotions, it explores different areas of artistic expression and it transmits a compelling message is a way that has never been done before. Even if the artwork does now circumscribe to traditional artistic though it brings out innovative ideas, which after all, are very valuable in any creation process and which represent the very core of human progress in thinking and expressivity. Therefore, I strongly believe that both Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain and Bruce Nauman’s Self portrait as a fountain can be considered serious and important works of art. They are a synthesis of the artistic beliefs of a certain period in history, a mirror to the state of mind of the society at the time and therefore cannot be ignored. At the same time, they are the pure expression of non-conventionalism and innovation that pushes boundaries through art and helps us gain new levels of human perception. Another important argument that I have stressed in my paper is that these artworks are inspired from everyday life and make use of ordinary subjects, therefore celebrating the mundane and the way it can be interesting and fascinating if put in the right artistic light. It is very important for every young contemporary artist to understand this idea and to further explore it in order to create valuable and original works of art and to reach new levels of human imagination and possibilities. Works Cited Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: A Global History. Wadsworth: Clark Baxter, 2010. Seigel, Jerrold. The Private Worlds of Marcel Duchamp: Desire, Liberation, and the Self in Modern Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. Read More