Urinal

In the 1960s, Marcel opened an innovative door of perception into which a whole bunch of pseudo-artists plunged after him, producing nothing but Manichaean and ugly incongruities.

However, Marcel was the only real genius, and all his followers are only « plagiarists » who lack talent and intelligence, desperately seeking to exploit the vein !

His concept belonged to him alone. It was exhilarating.
Since that time nothing new under the sun...

That is why, after 104 years, it is time that the paradigm to be laid bare by its viewers themselves !

First mission of this artwork :

To bring retinal art back into the viewer's field of vision, to allow him to stop considering an artwork through the one and unique prism of « intellectualization ».

Art should be beautiful !

In the purest tradition of my « Ready-Remade »,  I transformed this ugly fountain made of gray cement : into a fountain worthy of display in the gardens of Versailles, thanks to multiple layers of paint in harmonious colors.

This piece also has a provocative connotation, thanks to the plaque affixed to the second pool that encourages the viewer to engage with it...

This is its second mission, hence my question :

« Who will dare to relieve his bladder in my artwork ? »

My only hope, an innocent little child :

« But dad, why are you yelling at me ? I really had to pee, and it was marked on it ! »

This is why, in homage to Pierre Pinoncelli, who would undoubtedly have inaugurated my artwork in his own way if he were still alive, I filled this fountain with urine (synthetic, to avoid odors).

Third and last mission :

By restoring its main function to the original artwork, I allow the whole universe to get out of this infernal spiral and restore meaning and emotion to art...

The world will watch dumbfoundedly at the end of the paradigm into which Marcel has led us... out of pure revenge and/or by opportunism...

Art historians, discovering this artwork in 100 years, will call me a genius who has achieved the impossible feat of having buckle the buckle !!

Let me fill you in on a few little-known facts that aren't taught in art schools (apparently) :

From February to May 1913, in the United States, new European research was presented at the International Exhibition of Modern Art: the Armory Show in New York, then at the Art Institute of Chicago and finally in Boston at the Copley Society. During the first two exhibitions, the Nude Descending a Staircase (N°2) caused hilarity and scandal in certain newspapers. This work is influenced, like Futurism, by chronophotography.

He moved away from painting, around 1913-1915, with the first « ready-made » objects that he chose for their aesthetic neutrality ^[1]

From my point of view, Marcel Duchamp was an excellent painter, unfortunately too far ahead of his time, who suffered greatly to be ridiculed and disrespected by the art world...

(Personally and seriously, I love this beautiful Nude !)

This is why, drawing inspiration from incoherent artists and out of a taste for provocation :

In 1917: Duchamp was a founding member of the Society for Independent Artists, a New York association equivalent to the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. Wanting to test the open-mindedness of the committee responsible for selecting the works, he anonymously presented a porcelain urinal which he baptized Fontaine and signed under the pseudonym « R. Mutt ». The object triggers a controversy and, ultimately, is not exhibited. Duchamp then takes his defense in the magazine The Blind Man, of which he is co-founder. ^[2]

When in the 1960s, what was a simple joke and provocation began to be taken seriously, Marcel had his revenge !

He got the power to destroy all those painters, gallery owners and curators who had brought him down.

Why did I tell you about the incoherent artists ?
Well, because digging deeper reveals the true genius behind Ready-Made :

In 2018, a trunk containing incoherent works dating back to the 1880s, 30 years before The Bicycle Wheel, was discovered near Paris by expert Johann Naldi, containing an artwork of unique value : a readymade by Alphonse Allais, from a green carriage curtain suspended from a wooden cylinder, with the caption: « Pimps still in the prime of life and with their bellies in the grass, drinking absinthe ». This work was classified as a national treasure by the Ministry of Culture in May 2021. ^[2]

Post-Scriptum :

The most observant among you will have noticed that I followed the architectural diagram given by Marcel : 3 basins on the original from 1917, and 1 central water jet on top in the 1964 copies.

Notes and References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readymades_of_Marcel_Duchamp