What is art? It is million different things to a million different people. I guess I would consider myself an art snob. Why you ask? Well, I will tell you even if you didn't ask. The Dada movement for those of you that are not familiar with it was an anti art movement after WWI. Anything and everything was considered art. Probably the most famous "artwork" and I use the turn loosely, from that period was Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, a urinal detached from the wall. I have a real problem with this movement.
I feel as though art comes from ones soul. It comes from the place where the heart and the mind meet. Art should be inspiring. Art like Duchamp's piece is really quite insulting to artists. At least it is to me and yes, I do consider myself an artist. At top right is a picture I painted of one of my daughters, next to it a photo of Duchamp's piece.
Granted, there is some definite humour in this piece and others like it. I can't speak for all artists but there are some that don't consider art a joke, and these pieces are essentially jokes. I've seen hair glued to a board, an old shoe nailed to a tree stump and feces rubbed on a canvas all displayed in art museums claiming to be works of art. Am I short sighted? Am I failing to see a bigger picture, perhaps, but would Picasso, DaVinci, Degas or Monet consider pieces like the Fountain works of art? I wonder...
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