Thursday, October 16, 2003
E-MAIL FROM ELIZABETH SCANLON ON THE DUCHAMP POSTS
Also, re: your & Hassen's recent blog postings on Given: 1. The Waterfall,
2. The Illuminating Gas, I just wanted to add that what I love most about
that piece is Duchamp's brilliance in making it only accessible via
peephole, thereby insuring that we can argue about it FOREVER and never see
the same thing, as only one pair of eyes can look at it at a time, and even
standing there side-by-side with a companion, as I have done, taking turns,
you can hardly see what that other person sees; you are left to describe
what it is you think you're seeing. You can't point and say, "that, there,
see what I mean?" I think the title nods to this aspect: what is listed as
"given" are peripheral factors in the tableau, whereas the viewer creates
the central figure in her mind's eye. My initial debate about this happened
one time at the museum when I mentioned to a friend that I thought there
was something satirical in Duchamp's intent, as the woman-figure was so
obviously fake & alien & wrong-looking that it didn't seem violent to me,
and my friend was shocked! Saying that it was clearly a disturbing image.
And around & around we go...
I hope you are well and that I'll see you around soon --
e.
-------------
posted by CAConrad
2. The Illuminating Gas, I just wanted to add that what I love most about
that piece is Duchamp's brilliance in making it only accessible via
peephole, thereby insuring that we can argue about it FOREVER and never see
the same thing, as only one pair of eyes can look at it at a time, and even
standing there side-by-side with a companion, as I have done, taking turns,
you can hardly see what that other person sees; you are left to describe
what it is you think you're seeing. You can't point and say, "that, there,
see what I mean?" I think the title nods to this aspect: what is listed as
"given" are peripheral factors in the tableau, whereas the viewer creates
the central figure in her mind's eye. My initial debate about this happened
one time at the museum when I mentioned to a friend that I thought there
was something satirical in Duchamp's intent, as the woman-figure was so
obviously fake & alien & wrong-looking that it didn't seem violent to me,
and my friend was shocked! Saying that it was clearly a disturbing image.
And around & around we go...
I hope you are well and that I'll see you around soon --
e.
-------------
posted by CAConrad
