Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ Was Subversive

"Around holiday time, you’ve got to envy the Norwegians. They’ve got real candles on the tree, gobbets of pork fat for Christmas dinner (these are euphemistically known as “ribs”) and aquavit to feed the glow. This year, as an extra Yuletide treat just for them, they’re also getting fresh insights into the most influential artwork of the 20th century."

"That’s how Marcel Duchamp’s urinal “Fountain” once polled among experts, and we’re all supposed to know why: In 1917, when Duchamp submitted a store-bought urinal to a New York exhibition, he took a low-end piece of mechanical mass production and, by fiat, elevated it to the status of fine art. All the genre-bending, class-stretching, anti-craft freedoms of contemporary art follow from that moment.
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John Chamberlain - RIS (Rest In Sculpture)

"John Chamberlain sculpted explosive and expressive forms out of crushed, painted automobile parts. Unconcerned with trends and movements he created gestural forms worlds away from the current artistic moment. Born in 1927, he died today at 84 years old."

"Known for living life fully and wildly, Chamberlain once joked to the New York Times: "I once had a drink with Billie Holiday, and I smoked a joint with Louis Armstrong. Those are my real claims to fame. Write that down."

For full story and more pictures at The New York Times