"Duchamp" Thematic Chair Project

requirements: 1) create a chair from cardboard capable of holding your (the artist's) weight 2) the chair should be based on the work of a famous artist- design details, form, and decoration should be related to their work through your interpretation
materials: cardboard, cardboard tubes, hot glue, painter's tape and paint



Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" gained widespread infamy in the art world at the time of its creation. A "readymade," the "Fountain" was no more than a factory mass-produced urinal, signed with a fake name and submitted to an art competition. Through this sculpture Duchamp challenged the public's conception of art. Does art have to be made by the artist, or can the artist use found objects, change them in some way, and call it art? What is "art?"




I began my project by familiarizing myself with the toilet through building one. The pattern can be found here.






My model was an attempt at combining Duchamp's old-fashioned urinal with the more modern-day urinals. Due to the open "armrests" that formed the sides of the bowl, it gave my model more of a toilet feel than a urinal feel.



An in-progress shot. The base of the chair needed to support not only my weight, but the rest of the sculpture's weight as well. I made a grid within the base to provide the needed structural stability.




My primary reason for choosing Duchamp was the "Chrome AutoFlush Urinal" box my father helpfully used to ship my art supplies to me.