Part 1 Mid-Term

Mark Bleier
Part 2 of Mid-Term

Marcel Duchamp has a tremendous impact on the art world and he affects the way many artists chose to do their work. As I read The Duchamp Effect, I realized how he affects artists and conceptual art today. Duchamp has most definitely left behind a strong influencing legacy.
Marcel Duchamp was considered a rebel and was “against a kind of academic slavery that artists went through who followed a traditional path” (55). He liked his art work to be extreme and different. Duchamp was a conceptual artist who did not like to paint. He made the most common objects, a piece of art. He paved a path for many conceptual artists. He showed artists that there is another way of looking at art. His conceptual art influenced many artists, and still does today. Ed Ruscha is an American artist who is influenced by Duchamp’s work. He states that Duchamp is “a part of my history and my art” (55). Ruscha’s work is similar to Duchamp’s, in that Ruscha uses common objects and words as art also. He would use a common object such as the word ‘noise’ and make that an art piece.
Bruce Connor is another American artist who is influenced by Duchamp’s legacy. Connor said that he made an art piece that was in response to Duchamp. Connor explained that he “attempted to do collaboration at the Charles Alan Gallery in New York after Duchamp had shown his Roto Reliefs at the gallery” (59). Connor’s art work is also similar to Duchamp’s. The article shows pictures of both artists work and they look similar. Connor’s ‘The Bride’ is a picture of a still object. Duchamp’s ‘travelling box’ is also a picture of a still object.
Sherrie Levin is another artist who is influenced by Duchamp’s conceptual art work. She took a picture of an ordinary pair of shoes and made it a brilliant piece of art. She said it was very “Duchampian the idea of taking the original readymade and making it into a fabricated readymade” (177). Levine also said that Duchamp provided her with a way to make sculptures, which she makes very well. When she sculpted, she thought “primarily about Duchamp” (179). Levin’s artwork, After a Broken Leg, is referring to Duchamp because it used a practical object and made it art.
Louise Lawler is an artist whose art “continually pushes at the edges” (184). Duchamp’s work also pushed the edges especially ‘The Fountain.’ Lawler’s use of shadows is also something Duchamp used. Fred Wilson is a conceptual artist who focused on how the “museum is assembled and how meaning is constructed in that context” (187). Duchamp, as a contemporary artist, was also focused on art and the museum. Wilson wants to create “a sense of shock” with his art. Duchamp also wanted his work to be a surprise to the viewer.
All the five artists mentioned have been influenced by Duchamp’s conceptual art style. Duchamp’s artistic effect caused the artist to realize how to look at and create new types of art. There are similarities in these artists’ works. They all learned to look at art in different way and they all incorporate common objects within their work. Duchamp questioned art and the nature of it and that is noticeable in these artists work.


The Duchamp Effect. Essays, Interviews, Round Table. Edited by Martha Buskirk and Mignon Nixon.