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Pease explain why this is art.

Motokid

Motokid

New Member
Can somebody please explain to me what is so friggin artistic about this?

clicky

I don't have a very refined taste for art, so when I see this "thing" being called art, and a value of millions of Euro's and/or pounds being placed on it I have to question all of humanity.

In a December 2004 poll of art experts, the urinal was named the most influential modern art work of all time.

Who the hell are these experts?
 
It's not art, and anyone who tries to convince me that it is, is wasting their time. Half the time, it's not the piece of art these so-called experts are on about, it's the person behind it. It's another form of hype.

Utter nonsense.
 
Motokid said:
Can somebody please explain to me what is so friggin artistic about this?
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Why, Moto, you fool! At the time that this piece was made by Marcel Duchamp, it was extremely difficult to find any place to pee in France, so The Urinal became symbolic of Civilization of the Ideal Future. In America, where we have plumbing and cleaners and flushable toilet brushes all over the joint, it is very difficult to understand the elevated position of The Urinal in Continental expressive tropes.

In fact, it is still extremely hard to find anyplace to pee in France, except for these very artsy plastic boxes scattered around Paris. There is a whole culture in France that revolves around men peeing in the street and into holes dug in the ground.

I personally hope The Urinal is even more influential than it has been already! Viva La Urinale!
 
I don't see anything so artistic about it either. I do wonder about the valuation process on any so-called work of art. Who makes these judgements about what a piece is worth? Who actually pays these outrageous prices for stuff like this? (I refrained from calling it junk..)
 
novella said:
Why, Moto, you fool!
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I'm not buying it you pink little fuzzball.

It's a toilet. A potty. If I so chose I can pee in one of those almost everyday.
It's not worth millions of dollars. They are all over America and other places too.

It's not art.
 
It's a signed urinal, at that. I remember reading about this particular masterpiece when studying the Dadaist movement at school. If you think can't appreciate Fountain then I doubt much you will appreciate other works in this movement. Remember, it may look like a urinal but it addresses so much of the time it was created. As I recall, Dadaism sprang out of Surrealism, Fauvism, Futurism, before the rise of Cubism; should explain it all, really.
 
Moto, Moto, Moto . . .when you grow up in a world of toilets, the symbolic status of the One Beautiful Toilet is hard to grasp. Such spoiled are you!

I want to have a bed that looks like a big chocolate eclair. It's art, baby, not rocket surgery.
 
Pinky, it's got nothing to do with spoiled in America. If that was the case why isn't there some intensely popular piece of art that resembles a tampon, or a condom, or toilet paper, or kleenex? Coffee pot, frying pan, microwave oven, cell phone? Laptop computer, cigarette, crayon, or boxer/brief underwear? Blue jeans for cryin' out loud?

Art is something unique and special. It's creative expression that inspires, and causes people to think, or dream, or just smile.

Millions of American men and boys piss into urinals on a daily basis. Creating a copy of something like that is not art. It's probably more like copyright or trademark infringement. It's certainly not the most influential and important piece of art for some time period. Not in my mind.

The only thing attractive about that thing is the idiots who might pay millions of dollars/pounds/euro's for it. It's like a pet rock. I don't get it, and I don't care to either.
 
Motokid said:
Millions of American men and boys piss into urinals on a daily basis. Creating a copy of something like that is not art.
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Ah, but how often do those millions stop to observe the curvature of the urinal? And that's what Fountain is doing. It's taking something so taken for granted, so commonplace, and putting it on a pedestal so that you do take the time to consider its scultpure as an artform.

It's certainly not the most influential and important piece of art for some time period.
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But, you are weighing in on it with a 21st Century perspective. When this piece surfaced art was about canvas and marble. It shook the foundations of the notion of what art is, about artistic perceptions, and showed a new direction in which to express one's self. It's because of this we can fully appreciate Tracy Emin's Bed (therein are your tampons, Moto) or Martin Creed's award winning Work No.227: The lights going on and off.

idiots who might pay millions of dollars/pounds/euro's for it.... I don't get it, and I don't care to either.
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You may wish to retract your "idiots" statement as it's unwarranted. Just because you don't get it doesn't mean everyone doesn't get it. There may just be someone for whom it strikes a chord, elicits an emotion, a memory...
 
Moto, your dreams have come true. Here is a bog roll sculpture! It's all explained why this is art in the link.


5A_LRGE.jpg
http://www.tinalaurenvietmeier.com/newwork/iso_sculptures/sculpt_5A.html
 
You do realize that all this talk about potty's, toilet paper, art, and sculpture could lead down a very dangerous, dangerous path....;) :eek:
 
The critics call it influential, but don't confuse "influential" with "artistic" or "good." Duchamp was mocking artistic conventions, and he did it so effectively that those conventions changed. He submitted this particular piece to a major exhibition deliberately to have it rejected.
 
Mari is right, Moto, the whole point of Fountain was for Duchamp to trash the artistic standards of the day and declare that anything could be art just because he said it was. It's not a sculpture of a urinal, it's just an actual urinal that he signed. Of course, in the sense that anything an artist does can be considered art, he was right.

At the same time, just because it's art, doesn't mean you have to like it.

Stewart also makes an important point, about putting up everyday objects on a pedestal (or pedestal mat, a ho ho) and considering them for their aesthetic qualities instead of for their utility for a change. I don't see anything wrong in that.

If that was the case why isn't there some intensely popular piece of art that resembles a tampon, or a condom, or toilet paper, or kleenex?
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There is, it's called My Bed by Tracey Emin. (EDIT: I see Stewart has already mentioned this...)
 
I would rather gaze upon a fine Velvet Elvis or perhaps a good Dogs Playing Poker....

I see way more "art" in a Watterson Clavin & Hobbs comic strip than I do in anything that resembles, or is, a friggin urinal.


and the "My Bed"....sheesh...another rediculous hoax. I have had beds like that my entire life....big deal. To me, that's not art either.
 
By the end of the week my family has this nice collection of dirty clothes that we all throw into, and around hampers...quite fetching actually. I'd be willing to sell one of our piles of dirty clothes strewn about the floor for a paltry hundred thousand dollars US. I'll bring the clothes to your home/apartment/flat and personally arrange them to look just like they would look at my house. The only thing missing would be the dog that likes to claim the pile for her temporary bed. Very colorful collection. $100K US. A real steal.

The toy box in the garage which is overflowing with toys I could let go for about $50k US.

I'll start collecting the lint from the dryer filter and when I have a dinner plate full I'll start the bidding at $10k US.
 
My bedroom trash can overflowing with used tissues, Band-Aid wrappers, a sock with a hole in the heel, toenail clippings, dog hair, and other things unmentionable in mixed company, trumps your dirty clothes. A steal at $250,000, no euros please. PayPal accepted. It will be encased in Lucite so as to arrive at its new home in its original condition.

So there, Moto -top that! :p
 
The point is not whether you think the urinal is art or if you think it isn't. Personally, I can't stand this sort of thing - those experts have their heads up their butts - if you pardon the expression - but the point is, someone should not be allowed to damage or detroy somebody else's property - (property that is harming nobody, I might add) - because they don't like it.
 
Here's a link to a short article explaining the "Readymade" movement. It's not detailed or long, but I think it gets the most basic point across. There is also a link off of that page leading to Marcel Duchamp's personal statement on "Readymades".
 
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