Marcel Duchamp is possibly one of the artists that could attest to the truth that knowledge in different media of art helps with an artist’s journey. As …show more content…
discussed in the chapter “Interpreting The Readymade: Marcel Duchamp’s Bottlerock”, Duchamp was indulged in painting in his early life. He started out as a member of the Cubist group Puteaux, along his brothers Jacques Villon (nee Gaston Duchamp) and Raymond Duchamp-Villon, although he was aware that he has arrived on the scene ‘too late to achieve anything’ and showed disinclination from the practice (66).
In an attempt to break away from Cubism and Impressionist painting, he created Nu Descendant Un Escalier/Nude Descending a Staircase No.1. On this work, he inscribed the title onto the surface of the canvas, which sparked unsettlement to viewers and fellow Cubist artists. Subsequently, he produced a second and more complex version of Nude Descending a Staircase with the title rendered even more daringly in capital letters on the canvas. As Duchamp declared himself, he ‘wanted to get away from the physical aspect of painting’ (74). It is safe to say that the paintings were the start of Duchamp’s desire to experiment and break from the individual medium he’s been exposed to, perhaps his farewell to Cubism. After moving to New York and ‘abandoning painting’, he started to experiment with already made objects and played around the idea of designating these objects as art. Some of his works are Bottlerack, Bicycle Wheel, In Advance of the Broken Arm, Comb, and
the most controversial Fountain, which sparked a conversation when submitted to and denied from the first annual exhibition of the American Society of Independent Artists. Duchamp’s readymades ‘not only freed the artist of any dependence on manual skill, but also demonstrated that the creation of an artwork is something that can be achieved through the mind rather than the hand’ (De Duve 75). Duchamp’s work indeed challenged the autonomy surrounding art and raised a lot of questions. I like to think that his background in Cubism was also a huge aid in his exploration of his new medium, which also allowed him to create art that one has never seen before. Like what artist Bruce Nauman argued in the chapter “Art of the twentieth century”, there are ‘artists who function entirely within [a] discipline’, just like Duchamp initially, but at the same time if an artist ‘[does not] have any skill at all, then you can’t communicate either” (45). Because of Duchamp’s given knowledge, he was able to find the edge in his art and make it interesting. As a result, younger artists saw Duchamp’s work as a ‘model of artistic freedom’ that could be used to validate their search for unconventional forms of artistic practice. His hybrid art practice opened the idea of what art could be.
The idea of Duchamp rejecting Academy/high art conventions and working in a variety of media inspired artists such as Robert Rauschenberg to include objects and images in his works. Rauschenberg was notable for a method that ‘[gave] artists an enormous sense of permission’, Combine (Robert Rauschenberg, 2015). Combine is simply the combination of painting and sculpture. As artist Helen Molesworth suggested a video by Museum of Modern Art, Rauschenberg ‘married painting and sculpture’ as a product of his interest in ‘taking things out of the real world and putting them in an artwork’ (Robert Rauschenberg, 2015). His work Monogram, which composed of oil and collage on canvas with objects (goat/animal head), is a classic example of the use of multitude of medias to create an artwork. His knowledge in painting, collage, and found objects helped Rauschenberg bridge the ‘gap between [life and art]’ (Rauschenberg, 34), which is essentially what he wanted to portray in his works. As critic Leo Steinberg argued in the chapter “Art of the twentieth century”, Rauschenberg has invented a pictorial side that let the world in again (34). He created an outlet where artists are allowed to intersect two or more media together. Another work that showcases Rauschenberg’s smart use of different media is the Retroactive I, composed of oil and silkscreen and ink on canvas, showcasing variety and range. Rauschenberg’s desire to create ‘tension between materials from everyday life and materials from the traditional art…’ (Robert Rauschenberg, 2015) connects to the ideology Michael Fried proposed that ‘We are all literalists most or of all lives’, suggesting that we exist around and in a world surrounded by objects. On a different note, Fried also argued on the chapter “Art of the twentieth century” that medium-specificity was a central rule, and that types of art that ‘mixed different media were ‘at war’ with art…’, therefore tainting its ‘pureness’ (27). Does this mean that by crafting an art practice where media intersect with each other contaminates what art is really supposed to be? By exploring places where art has never been before, are artists breaking rules of culture that aren’t supposed to be broken?
Because of the threat of Nuclear War, the spread of AIDS, and the rise of feminism, art of the 1980’s was ‘political and bombastic… it was a moment when artists really believed that culture is capable of changing society’ (This Will Have Been, 2012) and was all about appropriation. Artists and groups such as Barbara Kruger, ACT UP, and Guerilla Girls took already existing artworks and commented on it by different means of art. Although during that time, working in a variety of media was not exactly an idea institutions were open about. According to artist Alan McCollum, Museum of Modern Art never had shows where you see an artist exhibits artworks in different medium. There was always a separation for each medium represented. On his appearance on the video This Will Have Been (2012), he shared an experience he had when applying for a grant, where he had to check off whether he was a painter or sculptor, and it cultivated a confusion since he knew that he was a painter, a sculptor, and more. This confusion is not only exclusive to him. It is apparent that this is a common problem among artists during the 1980s. McCollum reminisced that in the 1980s, ‘many artists realized [that] they could work in many different medium [for instance]’ and to repel from this evident restriction, artists started to revolt against what seemed to be the standard of art (This Will Have Been, 2012). It took a while to be generally accepted but because of the power and hunger for change that fueled the artists, they continued to resist and reform, as they always did. Works such as Do women have to be naked to get Into the Met. Museum? by Guerilla Girls, Kissing Doesn’t Kill: Greed and Indifference Do by Gran Fury, Untitled (We will no longer be seen and not heard) by Barbara Kruger are all artworks that were successfully create by mixing multiple media together. The use of photographs, illustrations, collages, and text altogether were showcased in the said works. Not only did these works serve as art, they also became tools for activism, and ultimately revolution and change. Indeed, artists and groups used their knowledge in an assortment of media to spark conversations, and attempt to reform norms and disparities in the society.
Although expertise in traditional art practices was the default in most of history, it is reasonable to declare that as art evolved, our skills have too. Artists such as Marchel Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, Barbara Kruger, and the Guerilla Girls created works using knowledge in various media that they have acquired through self-realization and through fellow artists. Because of this, they were able to reclaim autonomy in art, challenge conventions, spark conversations, and create new ideas. Since an artist must adapt as the world of art changes, therefore it is more useful to be experienced in different media than to stay with only one medium.