Urinal Named As Most Influencial Art (AP spelled it wrong, not me)

[No Mandate Here.]

<http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/URINAL_ART?SITE=PAPIT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=home.htm>

LONDON (AP) -- A porcelain urinal is the most influential work of modern art, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The poll of 500 arts figures ranked French surrealist Marcel Duchamp's 1917 piece "Fountain" - an ordinary white, porcelain urinal - more influential than Pablo Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," Andy Warhol's screen prints of Marilyn Monroe and "Guernica," Picasso's searing depiction of the devastation of war.

Duchamp pioneered the use of everyday objects as art, an aesthetic that questioned the nature of art itself.

Art expert Simon Wilson said the choice of Duchamp's urinal "comes as a bit of a shock."

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I just had to see whether the GW* school of English and spelling carried through the story. (wouldn't be surprised if "Influencial" is changed soon)

[Khephra]

1. I would have gone with Warhol

[LeftHander]

4. NO this one...

[LeftHander]

2. CUT ARTS FUNDING !

Anything less than a cowboy riding over a ridge is not worthy of any funding from our moral vlue leadership types...

[No Mandate Here.]

3. But * thinks the sun rises in the west LOL

[Pale_Rider]

5. Ah yes ... to piss time away ...

... viewing some of the world's finest urinals!
http://www.urinal.net/

[VegasWolf]

6. "Dogs playing Poker" on velvet gets my vote. Or Elvis! n/t

[central scrutinizer]

17. don't forget the faux

Native American motifs with eagles, wolves, and women (with perfect skin and teeth) with impressive decollatage wearing extremely low-cut doeskin mini-dresses.

[htuttle]

7. I think I'd have to agree

Without regurgitating everything I learned in Aesthetics class in college, I'll just say I think that The Fountain was a very important work in the artistic 'dialogue'.

[prayin4rain]

8. You know I would have to agree only because

so many people CONTINUE to miss the point of this. I had a music art class and the teacher was actually a composer who wrote symphonies. So he decides to try and make the class define art. So everyone starts saying things....so he finally settles on that art is a search for beauty. In his mind this urinal shows that beauty can be found in everyday things and in things you don't normally think of as beautiful. I raised my hand and agreed with him and added that another statement this urinal could be making is that art does not necessarily HAVE to search for beauty or anything else for that matter, art just is, all on it's own. To make art relative to beauty degrades it, and that art stands shoulder to shouldder with these other concepts and can validate itself. He totally dismissed me and said his interpretation was more optimistic. Needless to say I dropped the class.

[amazona]

22. i like and agree with your interpretation

Both concepts are part of it. This is a very "large" work of art. But your concept is "larger" than your teacher's because it kicks aside the necessity for art to explain itself by being beautiful, and you know -- that's kind of cool. Art need make no excuses for existing.

[DS1]

9. I've been saying this for months. Most "influential art" IS shit.

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit, shit that I want to fling more shit on.

[htuttle]

13. Now THAT would be very artistic

Flinging shit on artistic shit, that is.

Very Pollack, you know?

[DS1]

15. Let's pretend we never spoke of this

I'm off to smoke myself to death in my new underground art club on the lower east side :eyes:

[DS1]

16. oh, and Pollock was the Kincaid of steaming piles of shit

:-)

[confusa]

10. Readymades

Have to agree here. The whole concept of Duchamp's "readymades" or being able to spot art within everyday found objects was revolutionary.

[mr_hat]

11. I agree with that. You can't go to an art festival these days

without wading through booth after booth of knock-off porcelain urinals. Porcelain urinal in off-white, porcelain urinal with cow spots... It gets old.

[VegasWolf]

12. Gee, I guess that's why I'm an engineer, I completely miss the

beauty of the urinal. I even miss the urinal a lot.

[Menshevik]

14. wow

I actually saw this in the modern tate museum a few weeks ago...my friend and I were like WTF, is that what we think it is? Yeah, a urinal, just sitting there in a glass case...so random

[Buns_of_Fire]

18. The survey was conducted by Gordon's Gin,

which sponsor's Britain's leading art prize, the Turner Prize. The winner of this year's Turner Prize is due to be announced next Tuesday.

I would have thought that a beer company would have sponsored it. After all, after five beers or so, a urinal truly IS the most beautiful thing on earth. Ladies, trust me on this.

But then, you have to consider that I also kept a Velvet Elvis (with flashing bulbs around the perimeter of it) hung in my Atlanta apartment for several years. Not because I have any special affinity for Elvis, but just because I thought it was so delightfully tacky. (It was right next to my mannequin, named Angela, which is a whole 'nother story altogether.) :-)

[alfredo]

19. Now this is art

Entitled, "Just Do It."

[Thurston Howell IV]

25. Where can I buy it?

Great pic!

[alfredo]

26. Just like Linux absolutely free.

BTW, that is a CompUSA bathroom.

[Swamp Rat]

20. I'll bet one with the image of the Virgin Mary will show up on ebay

[amazona]

21. it is certainly one of them

I think it is difficult for us today to fully understand how a work like "Fountain" changed our perceptions, but it is certainly an important work to me. It is about learning how to see outside the box. I don't know if "Fountain" was more influential than "Les Demoiselles d-Avignon" or some others, but certain more so than screen prints of Warhol's Marilyn Monroe, I mean come on. Fun is fun, but some fun is just more mind-altering than other fun.

[No Mandate Here.]

23. My question for my Art History class would be.,..

What would Warhol have done without knowing about Duchamp and his work?

Art moves along a path, which helps us all define our edges - the boundaries of society. Duchamp was who he was because of the completely intuitive nature of almost all his work. To a large extent, he was the edge.

I'll have to re-read my books about him and his work and his methods.

[Thurston Howell IV]

24. Duchamp - artist of the century -- when will he do a Gap ad?

This is a good pick, if one must choose only one work or artist -- Duchamp's influence has been felt throughout the 20th Century via the Dada movement. It extends to William Burroughs, who I feel is the most influential writer of the last half of the 20th century, as well as in music (especially punk rock).

I don't see his art is terms of beauty, but in terms of upending our ossified assumptions about the world. That's what the best art, film, writing and music do, IMO.

Capitalism is able to absorb these challenges and use them to sell even more stuff -- the idea of "hip" and "cool" have been thoroughly co-opted by the multinationals. We have the "Rebel Billionaire" and soccer mom's in leather jackets -- rebels in SUVs.

Duchamp is spinning in his urinal, along with Burroughs and John Lydon. Wait a minute, Lydon cashed in, gleefully.

[NuttyFluffers]

27. ahh, yes i agree. a wonderful post.

is there nothing art cannot turn on its head? is there nothing capitalism cannot defang and neuter?

if art be the whetstone to put the edge on expression and cut through the fog of reality is then capitalism the file that removes that edge and let's us sink into the mists? yes, it is so, is it not?

[Thurston Howell IV]

30. Yes, I'm up to my knees in iron filings

Be a rebel and buy a Canon camera.

[Thurston Howell IV]

31. deleted duplicate post

[Tab]

28. AP did NOT spell it wrong

Mainly because it was issued from the London office.

Ah, but we're not the only country that speaks and spells English... in fact, we got it from England, where they have flags of many colours, GW isn't smart enough to use the "International English" spelling (as it's termed), things end in 'ise' not 'ize', like a 'realisation', and so forth.

And my 1978 MGB has a 'boot' not a 'trunk', a 'bonnet', not a 'hood', it takes 'petrol' not 'gas', and so on.

We're not the only country on earth, regardless of how we act!

- Tab

[No Mandate Here.]

33. Okay... they were inconsistent

It was spelled in american in the article. Sorry to offend...

Now I need to check under the bonnet for the petrol. Some day will drive in Great Britain, and really have to concentrate.

[RebelYell]

29. I don't know about art, but this one's funny

[HR_Pufnstuf]

32. James Surls is one of the best sculptors of our time.

Hands down one the best sculptors this planet has ever seen. Check him out.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=james+surls

[Voltaire99]

34. Well...that takes the cake!

The urinal cake, har har.

Piss on, Marcel!