Art as Experience and the Readymade

             Humans since the dawn of time have felt compelled to share and communicate visually. It was instilled into their daily lives. Reflecting on John Dewey’s “Art as Experience”, he counters how we view art and understand it. Dewey argues that by putting art on a ‘pedestal’ and placing art in sterile environments like museums the art object often loses context and the social connection. Why can’t art be incorporated into a normalcy in daily life rather than the otherness of art?  Dewey argues that “art is remitted to a separate realm, where it is cut off from that association with the materials and aims of every other form of human effort, undergoing, and achievement,” (1958, p.8). To add to this separation from daily life it leads to inaccessibility and represents a status of power and wealth. Dewey argues that the nouveaux riches are a by-product of the capitalist system and art collectors are capitalists that purchase these rare and valuable objects as a icon of wealth and power (p.8). This creates an environment that is straining on the artist which makes them withdraw and create an aesthetic of the individual that further separates from common life, which then requires trained art historians and critics to decipher the objects emotional, cultural, and social meanings. Artists “often feel obliged to exaggerate their separateness to the point of eccentricity,” because of the ideals and pressure of the art market (p.10).

By limiting art and setting rules on how to experience and view art it limits human connection. It is created for a specialized culture that is exclusive. It furthers capitalist ideals and furthers the divide between the working class and the bourgeoisie. Understanding the divide helps us understand and explore new ways to bridge fine arts back to common life. Creating inclusive art environments allows for people who normally don’t have the means to view and experience art. The aesthetic of art can merge with common life and be a common thing that connects people in a multi-sensory experience.

            A artist that confronted how people viewed and perceived art was the French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968). He was the creator of readymade artforms and associated with the cubist, Dada, futurist, and abstract art movements. The industrial and commercial origins of Duchamp’s readymades were” intended to challenge the conventions of the permanent nature of art versus a temporary existence and the originality or uniqueness of art” (Dewey, 2023). By using found everyday objects and calling it ‘art’ changes the objects context. Using objects like urinals and bicycle wheels mounted to a stool confronts the viewers understanding of what art is. This challenges multiple art theories and confronts the stagnant museum and gallery settings.

            Looking at Marcel Duchamp’s “In Advance of a Broken Arm” (1915) the viewer is presented with a metal shovel with a wooden handle. It is mass produced for consumers but recontextualized as an art object. The object’s name alludes to its intended purpose which changes the idea of a shovel and creates a specific visual narrative (MoMA, 2024). This artwork challenges traditional artforms and settings and shows that anything can be art if the artist deems it so.

References

Dewey, J. (1934). Art as Experience (14th ed., pp. 1-19). Capricorn Books. https://sites.evergreen.edu/danceasart/wp-content/uploads/sites/124/2015/09/Art-as-Experience-ch.1.pdf

MoMA (2024, January 1). Marcel Duchamp: In Advance of a Broken Arm. Retrieved March 27, 2024, from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/105050?sov_referrer=theme&theme_id=5104