Duchampian News & Views
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Both Sides of the 1917 Divide
July 8, 2010Sculptor Derek Morris considers the 1917 exhibition of Fountain as the watershed of modern art, dividing studio-oriented work that went before from the conceptual work that has since conquered the art world. The Norfolk Contemporary Art Society’s current show bridges the gap, with "assisted readymades" in the Duchampian mode and more salon-friendly paintings and sculpture.
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Echoes of Rrose
July 7, 2010 The small 1964 assemblage Why Not Sneeze Rose Selavy is on exhibit through October 10 at Buffalo's Albright-Knox Art Gallery, part of a retrospective show called "ECHO." What is exciting about this display of Why Not Sneeze is the emphasis placed on its textual dimension: mirrors allow viewers to apprehend both the work's sculptural character and scrawled title (normally hidden on its underside) simultaneously. The effect keeps both aspects of the Duchampian pun (mo.. read more... -
Fountain in Scotland
July 6, 2010 The installation of one of Duchamp's Fountains in a new exhibition of dada and surrealist works at Scotland's National Gallery of Modern Art inspires plenty of local musing about how the sometimes florid sex-and-death conceptions of painters like Magritte and Miro plays into the Presbyterian milieu of formal Edinburgh. As well, there are insights about the Fountain as not so much a work of found sculpture to be appreciated in sculptural terms, but as a work of anti-sculpture,.. read more... -
The Duchampian Echoes of Lindsey Price
July 5, 2010Reflections on Duchamp — the readymades, chance pieces and general "conceptual" art — provide a solid backstop to the photography and installations of contemporary artist Lindsey Price. In fact, at least one critic seems more anxious to rehearse the Duchampian than the Pricean aspects of her current show at Baer Ridgway Exhibitions.
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Dreams That Money Can Buy
July 2, 2010Hans Richter’s 1947 film Dreams That Money Can Buy was revived recently at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Fernand Léger and Man Ray worked on the project, making it an extraordinary snapshot of a relatively brief moment in postwar time.
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Duchamp and the Long Scroll of Huang Yong Ping
July 1, 2010MOMA’s newly reopened contemporary art galleries contain plenty of references — oblique and direct — to the role of Marcel Duchamp as father of conceptual art. One piece now on display is Franco-Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping’s epic "Long Scroll," which cycles through his artistic genealogy across the span of some 50 feet of classically oriented imagery.
Amid the Buddhas and geometric abstractions, careful viewers will find bottleracks and more.
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Soup Cans and Fountains
June 29, 2010Marcel Duchamp was a significant influence on Andy Warhol. From the early readymades to the Pop Art masterpieces, the underlying line of thought is clear: everything can carry the aura of "art." Mass-produced objects can be "art." Advertising images can be "art."
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Bride of Bottle Rack
June 28, 2010While the Fountain is often given pride of place among Duchamp’s readymades, the Bottle Rack is the inspiration for a new glass work by Beth Lipman: the Bride. Five tiers of glass, references to the "large glass," a somewhat dark sensibility.
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Robert Shapazian Dies in Los Angeles
June 26, 2010Noted art dealer and publisher Robert Shapazian, best known for stewarding the Gagosian Gallery of Beverly Hills since its founding, has died at age 67 of lung cancer. He was an influential Duchamp critic and, in his role as head of the Lapis Press, published innovative studies of Duchamp’s work.
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