Is This Art?

This piece is by Marcel Duchamp and is titled “Fountain.” Duchamp is a DADA artist and uses the technique readymade art. The term readymade is pretty much self explanatory: the artist takes something already in existence, and makes it art. For the “Fountain” Duchamp used an already existing object, a urinal, and simply flipped it over. Since this work was so controversial, the work really hasn’t got the praise he deserved, and I do applaud him for his creativity.

When I first saw this work of art, I didn’t really like it. I wouldn’t say I hated it because in the artist’s eyes, everything is art. I remember my first reaction being confusion because I didn’t know what I was looking at. However, learning deeply about the DADA time period and about readymade art, my views have changed. It does help to be educated about not only the artist, but about the work. If you understand what the artist been through, you would know that it shows in their work.


With that understanding, is this art?