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Kara Walker, Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol Essay

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Kara Walker, Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol Essay
‘All great ideas are controversial or have been at one time’
All pieces of art that have challenged, questioned or opposed stereotypical beliefs or traditional values are regarded as great ideas. Artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and Kara Walker are all significant memorable artists that have a tendency to disregard high art and produce works that break down conventional ideas of the time. These outrageous and opposing perspectives of the time period have been developed via conceptual art practises that intend to challenge attitudes and values of popular culture which in turn have been great ideas.

Marcel Duchamp was a post-modernist whose approach to art was very much about appealing to the intellect rather than the eye. His ‘ready-mades’ were highly conceptual and challenged conventional traditions about artistic process and the art itself.
In 1913 Duchamp produced his first ready-made; Bicycle Wheel which was simply a spinning bicycle wheel placed on a stool. The original use of the art was just a distraction that was not intended to be shown and had absolutely no degree of skill involved. By using this method of ‘appealing to the mind’ audiences could experience more emotion than appreciating its beauty alone. The overall aim of these ready-mades was to shock people into self-awareness using the new post-modernist craze of experimentation with unorthodox materials such as the common bicycle wheel. This object was a well-known everyday object but now it was used to serve a new purpose. This psychological experiment of breaking down conventional traditions was a great idea that established the beginning of the post-modernist era.
Andy Warhol was another post-modernist who depicted values and attitudes surrounding popular culture of the 1960s to express his central theme of disregarding fame. “If you want to make a person miserable give them everything they desire”. Warhol believed that anyone or anything could be ‘famous’ which led to

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