Duchamp (marcel duchamp 1887- 1968) was born in Bolanville, Normandy, France, and his father was a notary. Teenagers learn to draw. Grandfather, two brothers and one sister are all painters. In his twenties, he has become one of the avant-garde painters in Paris, and was included in the first book introducing cubism in 1 9 1 2. 1 9 1 3. His work "The Naked Woman Downstairs" caused a sensation in America and was regarded by Americans as one of the best painters in modern Europe. At the right time, he gave up painting, because he saw from the dispute between school and portal that both traditional art and modern art would eventually become the authority to rule and enslave people and deprive them of their spiritual freedom. After that, he stopped painting. He just explored other means to express his views on art alone: art can be non-art; people should have a normal mind about "art" and treat art equally with other human activities. Only in this way can people get real freedom in spirit. Duchamp's denial and disrespect for artistic authority are most typically reflected in two works: one is to draw a beard for Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece Mona Lisa; The other is to sign his name on the urinal as his work. Both of these works appeared in 1 920 years ago. At that time, the idea of turning art into non-art could not be understood and accepted Therefore, Duchamp has been unknown for nearly 40 years, rarely appearing and rarely producing works. He only entertains himself by playing chess. It was not until 1.958 that Duchamp was rediscovered with the emergence of pop art (a genre that regards everyday objects as works of art). His anti-art thought quickly became the mainstream of western contemporary art, creating an open situation in which post-modern art has no authority and leadership style. Duchamp is still the spiritual leader of western art, and no one can surpass him. Duchamp can probably be regarded as the "mystery of the Sphinx" in the study of art history. First of all, this man's works are very few, starting from the works he left at the age of 65, 438+0.5. At the age of 27 (1, 9 1.3), he intends to stop painting, and his works even count as a * * * 1. During the period from 1 9 13 to 1 925, he only created 60 works, many of which are "ready-made products", that is, signing on ready-made things as his works. Secondly, this person refused to be an artist, quietly retired, did not join any genre, and did not express any views. The more vigorous the art world is, the more he avoids it. What's more, this man has no respect for art at all! It was he who publicly appreciated the masterpieces of the masters, drew a beard on Leonardo da Vinci's portrait Mona Lisa, and brought the urinal to the art exhibition as a work. But strangely, it is this man who doesn't take art seriously. Art is particularly willing to take him as something. /kloc-since the 1950s, many new schools of western art have emerged, and they all strive to marry him, and admit that "thief" is their father. He gave up being an artist and fundamentally subverted the status of art, but art was taken into a brand-new direction by himself, which created the prosperity (including chaos) of western art for nearly half a century. When Duchamp was still alive, the research on him had already begun. In 1960s, there were three or four monographs about Duchamp. By the1980s, the monographs on Duchamp had occupied 4 pages of the bibliography. Now, among the monographs on Duchamp published in recent years, the bibliography on Duchamp has reached 1 7 pages. In other words, Duchamp's research grows geometrically every twenty years. There is no doubt that this book list will continue to be extended indefinitely. In such a voluminous research work, all aspects of Duchamp should be studied. Persistent scholars will search up and down, quote classics, painstakingly find out his possible origins in western culture, and write a huge amount of macro-theories. Honest scholars can only shake their heads and sigh: Duchamp's invisibility has already escaped from the secret network of western positivism. The more people study this artist, the more they can't extricate themselves, and the more difficult it is to find out: what makes Duchamp so special? As AIice Goldfarb Marquis, Duchamp's biographer, pointed out: "The most puzzling attraction of Duchamp's art lies in the fact that the importance of his works comes not from their beauty, but from the denial of beauty: not from clear meaning, but from ambiguity, not from richness, but from meanness; Not from what it fully expresses, but from what it cannot express; Not from its clear presentation, but from its incomprehensible and unpredictable. Duchamp's personality, as an American painter said, is very attractive, but you don't know what makes him so attractive. " If you paint Duchamp, his appearance is: oval face, light eyebrows, gray eyes, straight nose and ivory smooth skin. His height is 1.68 meters. He often has a smile on his face. Voltaire,/kloc-a famous French enlightenment scholar in the 8th century, often wears a smile on his face, but that kind of smile is offensive, and bitter and spicy words can be blurted out at any time, mercilessly mocking his enemies. However, Duchamp's smile is faint and gentle. This is not offensive. It's a hidden smile. Not only does he not show his teeth, but he doesn't even move his lips, but he shows his eyes, eyebrows and even posture. It is a smile that understands the truth of the world, and it is a mockery of everything upside down and wishful thinking. However, he never hurts anyone and never quarrels with others. He is the most thorough rebel against all social popular values and has no enemies in his life. His basic situation is: education, high school graduation, no occupation for life; Long-term unmarried (married at the age of 67); No property-not only no house, no car. There is not even a book at home; His residence is as simple as a hut; He often travels without luggage. He wore two shirts that he had already changed. His toothbrush is in his pocket: everyone who knows him likes him (both men and women). All the art groups tried to win him over, but he never belonged to any woman. He doesn't belong to any group: he speaks accurately and effectively. No nonsense. Even his life is accurate: living within his means, not trying to earn a penny more, not saving any extra money outside his body; never losing his temper, always calm and calm, and calmness comes from carelessness. His friend said, "You should think that such indifference is a sign of great wisdom. Everything he said is very simple, and there is no tendency at all, so extreme simplicity is extremely charming. You will notice that he has lived like this all his life. " Willam copley, an American painter and collector, said, "Please forgive me for calling Duchamp a saint. That's what he is to me. A saint is a wise man. Duchamp can realize the simple truth under the eyes of each of us. " This makes us curious, Duchamp, but it still can't be explained through so many voluminous studies. All his benefits only come from "simple truth under the nose" What is the simple truth? We might as well try to understand Duchamp's simplicity from his own remarks. Duchamp's simple attitude towards life is:

"I began to realize at some point that a person's life doesn't have to be too heavy and don't have to do too many things. You don't have to have a wife, children, a house and a car. Fortunately, I realized this very early, which enabled me to live a single life for a long time. In this way, my life will be much easier than ordinary people getting married and having children. Fundamentally speaking, this is the main principle of my life. So I can say that I am very happy ... Besides, I don't feel pressured to do anything. Painting is not about taking out products or showing my stress. I have never felt such a requirement: sketch in the morning, sketch at noon or at night, and so on. ..... I am not the so-called ambitious person, eager for something. I don't like longing. First of all, I am very tired. Second, things will not be done well. I don't expect anything and I don't need anything. Expectation is a form of demand. This is the desired result. This situation does not exist for me. Because I haven't done anything for a long time now. I think it's good. ... I object to all those ... scrimps. A bunch of logical reasons: should I choose painting or choose 7 again? Be an artist, or get married, have children, have a house ... I didn't have that plan beforehand. I'm not worried about tomorrow. " Duchamp's simple attitude towards art and artists is: "... to live, to paint and to be a painter-it doesn't make any sense at all." In fact, it still does today. A man wants to be a painter because he wants so-called freedom. He doesn't want to sit in the office every morning. " "I don't think artists are the kind of social roles that have to do something. He seems to owe something to the public. I hate the idea. " "I'm not interested in art. I am interested in people who make works of art. " "An individual, a person, a person's brain. For me, this is more interesting than what he did, because I noticed that many artists are just repeating themselves. Of course, it must be. You can't always create. They have such a habit that, for example, they must draw a picture within one month. Everything depends on the speed of their work, and they feel that they owe their society a monthly and annual painting. ... fundamentally, I don't believe in the creative function of artists. He's like everyone else. His job is to do something, so a businessman must do something ... The word "art" comes from Sanskrit. It means. Now everyone is doing something. Those who do things in canvases and photo frames are called artists. At first, they were called craftsmen. I prefer them. I am a craftsman in secular, military and elegant life. " "I don't think art is very valuable. People invented art, and there is no art without people. All man-made things are worthless. ... art is an addiction, similar to drug addiction. Artists, collectors and people who have anything to do with art are addicted to this addiction. The existence of art is absolutely unlike the existence of truth. ... why allow the artist's ego to spread everywhere and poison the air? Don't we smell the stench in the air? . There are 6000 exhibitions every day in this world, so if it is an exhibition, the artist thinks it is the end of his art, and vice versa.

Is it a bit ridiculous that it is the pinnacle of his artistic career? If you think of yourself as one in six thousand, you will understand what is going on. "

His basic view of life is:

"I prefer life and breathing to work. I don't think what I have done is of great significance to the future society. So, if you look at it this way, my art is alive, and every second and every breath is a work. It's invisible, invisible and incredible. It is a feeling of happiness. " "I don't believe it. The word' individual', this word is artificial. " So "I'm not serious about myself." "I don't believe anything! The word "letter" is another mistake. Like ... the word "judgment". They are all terrible concepts, but the world is built on them. I hope the moon is not.

Like this. I refuse to accept anything ready-made. I doubt everything. ... always trying to let go of the baggage you already have. ""I'm not tempted at all. ... our earth is a small place in the vast universe, and people always have to put on an authoritative face. Isn't it ridiculous? " "I always feel that if the scale of science is longer, life will become more interesting ... Of course, we have to accept the so-called scientific laws after all, because it brings a lot of convenience to life, but this does not mean that they are the truth of things. Maybe they're just hallucinations. We value ourselves too much. We think we are the masters of this earth. I doubt it very much. . The word "law" completely goes against my principle of life. Science is obviously a closed cycle. Every 50 years or sometime, when new laws are introduced, the old laws must be completely changed. I don't understand why we should respect science so much. So I'm going to give another kind of falsification. All I did was forge. This is my character. I just can't take life seriously But it's interesting to turn seriousness into humor. " "Once we turn our thoughts into words or sentences, everything will go wrong. ... all these jokes-the existence of God, atheism, determinism, free will, socialism, death, etc ... All children are in a chess game called language, and only when a person doesn't care about winning or losing this chess game will they be entertaining to him. " ……

Is what Duchamp said simple for us? It doesn't look simple. J He doesn't want to plan, calculate, yearn for, pursue, be an artist and despise art. "He doesn't believe in any position" and doesn't even value himself. Does this work for us? We need a lot of things, want a lot of things, and need to be angry. We are willing to give up all those things Duchamp doesn't want. To say the least, we can learn from his art of opposing authority. So what have we learned from him? Duchamp's art has two sides. On the one hand, he created in the most labor-saving way, just signing the finished product. On the other hand, he is not afraid to enter any of the most detailed and complicated works, and several of his works are extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive. His "Big Glass" is from the beginning to the end. It was 1 1 year, and the "portable box" began on 1 938, and it was not completely assembled until his death. His last work, Giving, was completed in 22 years. Later generations learn from him, and it is only his relaxed and convenient side that swarms in. As the surrealist painter salvador dali sarcastically said, "Now, ready-made products cover the whole world! A piece of bread 1.5 yards long was changed into 1.5 miles long. Who will learn from Duchamp's patience, convergence, slowness and nothing? So it can be said that we have not found the so-called "simple truth under the nose", or that simple truth is not simple for us. So what does Duchamp mean to us? Why should we pay attention to this person? Duchamp may not appreciate it. He has always kept a low profile and doesn't like to see himself praised and raised. What is exasperating is that this man has lived a kind of outstanding beauty that we can't resist. Especially in a materialistic society, everyone is anxious, busy, hard and bored. Duchamp is like a clean stream, a breeze, a bright spring and a bright lamp. His way of existence gives people a comfort: as long as you are willing, you can live a good life, live a new life, and be liberated from desire and pursuit. You can be anonymous with your bare hands, but you can be your own master. Nothing can stop you. You can live freely, smartly, happily and truly. Therefore, we still have to return to Duchamp. We still have to explore what makes him so attractive. To explore Duchamp's personality, we must go deep into his heart. Duchamp is most concerned with the soul, and his life is concerned with the inside, not the outside. He broke with art because he saw that the art we accepted was actually poisoning people's hearts. He chose the latter between becoming a social artist (famous and beneficial) and spiritual freedom. He is very clear and confident about what he has done, and never needs to explain, explain or publicize himself to others. He dares to deal with the whole situation alone-"it's like being on a sunken ship." As a result, he was not sunk by the surrounding waves, but sailed into a new channel in calm and silence. As WiIlem De Kooning, an American abstract expressionist painter, praised: Duchamp completed an art movement by himself. Duchamp himself may agree with this. He said: "It is possible for a person to overcome the external environment-just one person. Not a group of people, not even a genre. In other words, I put forward another person, an individual and a demigod. If he can not be overwhelmed by possible opposites, he should be able to stand out and overcome the value fully recognized by the public. We don't know what qualities he should have, because these are very personal qualities, which come from a deep place and from the deep heart of the individual. "So, what is Duchamp's own' deep inside'? Duchamp himself did not give us a clear answer. If we look for it, it will only be in vain, because more than one person found and pointed out Duchamp's "no self". Italian painter Gianfranco Celio said, "For Duchamp, for his works, you will find that you are facing a very temporary self, and' I' does not represent the main part of that person. that Me. It's what this person uses to meet all kinds of needs, this. I can't define this person. What can define this person is his kind of relevance. My ability to keep my distance. His works are incredible because you can't see them in his works. Me. Even in his earliest paintings, this feature is reflected. For example, his paintings "Sad Youth on the Train" and "Naked Girl Downstairs" are neither the speed of futurism nor the multi-viewpoint simultaneous exhibition of cubism. Simply put, they are situations in which a person continues to show at different times. What we see is a series of parallel existing States, in which "I" does not exist. I usually give people the impression that I am an unchanging object, an independent individual in time and space. When you get rid of this, you will become a process of living at different times, a series of mysterious processes. "This discovery is quite accurate, Duchamp himself made it clear," I don't believe it. The word' individual', this word is artificial. " "I have never been interested in seeing myself from an aesthetic point of view. Although I know that I am using myself, I always think about how to get rid of myself. I call it a game of "me" and "myself". "What a strange' get rid of myself' requirement. For example, we may ask ourselves to get rid of wealth, reputation and status, but how can we get rid of ourselves? This kind of thought can only be seen in Buddhism, and it is "without me", or "without me in people" as Zhuangzi said, which is an unattainable feeling and realm. Some people try to achieve this state through practice, while others are born to achieve this state. As long as we pay attention, we can see that experts and sages at all times and all over the world will have a similar realm. For example, the world-renowned Argentine writer Borges is also very good at separating "I" from "myself". He expressed his position of "separation" in a famous essay "Borges and I": "It was another person who made a difference, Borges. I just wandered the streets of Buenos Aires ... I got the news about Borges by email and saw his name in the list of candidate professors or the dictionary of names. ..... I will stay in Borges instead of myself (if I am still a person). Many years ago, I tried to get rid of him and be alone. I turned from indulging in the myth of the suburbs to playing the game of light and infinity at the same time. However, the game has now become Borges's, and I have to make other plans. Therefore, my destiny is to escape, lose everything, and everything is forgotten or attributed to others. "People who can say such a thing are the smartest people. They all know that once a person is caught by "I", he will be a prisoner for life. So Duchamp is also very shrewd. He has been carefully avoiding this "pursuit" of "me". He called it "the battle of life". He refused to do anything for me all his life. He doesn't want to be awarded the title of artist. He never wants to repeat himself for "me". He clearly knows that as long as he escapes from my "pursuit", he can completely get rid of fame and fortune. He can do whatever he wants. When he does this, nothing can control him. He is his own master. All this sounds contradictory. Earlier, we also emphasized Duchamp's "solitude" and "the role of an individual and a demigod" What we are talking about now is to escape from this "individual" and "the land without me" Yes, judging from the values we usually accept, this is obviously contradictory. The "contradictory" relationship between the two, as Suzuki Teitaro Daisetz, a Japanese Zen master, said, "Man can only be free when he is no longer a man. When he denies himself and blends into the whole, he is free. More specifically, he is free when he is himself rather than himself. Only when one fully understands this seemingly obvious contradiction can one talk about freedom, responsibility or spontaneity. "This is a mystery to us. This mystery is worth spending a lifetime solving. Blessed are those who solve it early. It's just that Duchamp is hateful. He left us no more words to guide us. 1 946 In the summer, Duchamp was invited by a photographer friend to his villa for the summer. In a chat, they talked about the quick success and material supremacy of the American people. Duchamp believes that it is impossible to change this situation with education. He thinks the way to resist it is silence, slowness and loneliness. This is a very typical Duchamp way. He was born a man who never pushed, fought or struggled for any purpose. His country was accused of being negative by action art Boyce, and he had a special responsibility to save mankind. Duchamp, is this negative? Why did Duchamp, a "negative" person, touch so many people in a way that he was not moved by any limelight or fame, did not fight for it, did not fight for it, did not publicize it and was not moved by it? Why is his work not beautiful? Why did he win The Great Beauty? What is less than what is more? His silence is known all over the world? Why is the big sound a hope sound? The big picture is always invisible. What kind of big secrets are hidden in the universe we live in? ! These problems make us have to rethink. What is positive and what is negative? What is "I", what is "no me" ... What are the limitations of the research competition and what is the terrible misleading? Unfortunately, all these problems have complicated the problem again. In other words, Duchamp's behavior, life and existence have completely disrupted our normal logic, habitual thinking and prevailing values. In this chaotic situation, is it his fault or ours? He is a minority, we are a majority and an overwhelming majority. However, we should be careful. Things are often put the cart before the horse. People are very good at asking for leave and chasing it. The situation is just like that described in an ancient story: there is a patient who has a low fever every day and has become a habit for many years. Suddenly, the fever went down and I felt uneasy. I thought I was sick.