To me Duchamp has always been an interesting figure in the art world. As a leader of the Dada movement he ultimately tested the boundaries of what art really is. Originally he started out as a “traditional” artist who painted more impressionistic pieces but he soon found this form to be dull.
After joining up with fellow Dadaists, Duchamp began to create art that was more challenging in terms of its message. He created a sort of antithesis to the more formal and serious art that was prevalent at the time with pieces such as “Fountain”. He went against the very idea that art needed to start from an original idea or formal skill. Most interesting enough Duchamp began an early form of editing or art re-appropriation with pieces such as “L.H.O.O.Q.”. With these “ready-made” pieces Duchamp presented the idea that art could be as simple as taking others’ works and adding small details to it which, is not different from what we know today as photo-shopping.
Duchamp also experimented with multi-media projects that involved interactivity from an audience. This was tremendous for the art world because instead of the art being regarded as something that was final and to be untouched, it become something welcome to human touch. Thus Duchamp helped take art out of the artists hands and into the hands of the people as well. This also allowed art to be taken less serious and taken more as experimentation or a work in progress, ever-changing as more and more people try the piece out. This new found “virtuality” opened up the possibility of art exceeding any rules or regulations. This also opened up art even more to those who sought different means of expression but felt limited by the canvas. Therefore Duchamp can truly be seen as a forefather of new media arts.
