Understanding Duchamp

 

Firstly your author would like to say sorry he has not updated you with any articles in a while this has been because he has been aggressively pursuing his political goals and he has also been vacationing in the beautiful South Lake Tahoe.

Modern art is something that is widely misunderstood by conservatives because art itself is sometimes misunderstood by conservatives. All beauty is art but not all art necessarily has to be beauty. 

For example the notion that the many clever pranks of Marcel Duchamp and even his better work is some absurdly profane, useless and ugly mess comes only because of the presupposition all art must be beautiful. But if we eliminate that presupposition we can start to appreciate the work of Duchamp. Disregarding pieces that were very clearly pranks we see an extremely talented artist and especially his paintings and sculptures are breathtaking. 

Nude Descending a Staircase while of course strange shines with care when you look at the painting you can clearly tell Duchamp spent a very long time creating every piece with an intentionality that would surprise you. Even many of his much maligned readymades are surprisingly good. One piece called “Why Not Sneeze, Rose Sélavy?” Involves squares of marble precisely cut to look like sugar cubes placed into a painted birdcage with a thermometer and piece of bone. 

In conclusion if you correctly understand art and the concept of effort and intentionality you will truly appreciate the work of Marcel Duchamp.