“The Duchampian Influence”

Marcel Duchamp. In 1913 a French artist mounted a bicycle wheel on a stool, and changed the art world forever.

Duchamp is arguably the most influential artist of the twenty-century, his influence is not always obvious or dominate however the underlying acceptance of radical freedom of action and thought that is concurrent in artists practice can always be traced back to Duchamp. Duchamp was a French artist who was a part of the Dada movement, a modern art movement based around the idea of challenging the norm. Dada was anti-art, it was more a “world view” rather then a distinct style, going against conventional art the aim being to provoke, stimulate and involve the audience (even if that involvement was by …show more content…

“They have been somewhere, done something” (Rauschenberg).
Duchamp’s work with kinetic has influenced many artist of time. Duchamp’s readymade Bicycle Wheel, consisting of a bicycle fork with front wheel mounted upside-down on a wooden stool, (first shown In 1913 at his Paris studio) "I enjoyed looking at it, just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in the fireplace" said Duchamp. Suggesting that the stool is symbolic of how Duchamp would sit and watch the wheel, yet with Duchamp the concept was not always clear. The use of the “wheel” in are has occurred in artworks ever since, often symbolic of the continuity, in life, in nature. The revolution, as the wheel turns and comes back around. In 1998, Rauschenberg moved away from his silk-screen printing and combines and moved into sculpture with his Riding Bikes, two inverted bicycles painted and lined with neo lights. Rauschenberg’s combination of the use of lights shows his embrace of new technology being place in art, and the influence of Duchamp with the bikes. Another artist who has used bicycles in his work is Ai Weiwei, and his sculpture “Forever”.
Leading Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is a photographer, sculpture, curator, architectural designer, cultural and social commentator and activist is China’s most controversial and well know artist in the contempary art world. Ai Weiwei work is heavily