freecounterpoint: Künstlerscheisse

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Künstlerscheisse

4 comments:

Tecumseh said...: Several years before Duchamp added a mustache, goatee, and the letters L. H. O. O. Q to a reproduction of the Mona Lisa, simultaneously confusing her sexuality and offering an orgasmic explanation for her supposedly inscrutable grin, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, founder and leader of Italian Futurism, had already spoofed this symbol of the past scatologically. Known in Italy as La Gioconda, "the Merry" or Smiling One," she was relabeled by Marinetti "La Gioconda purgativa," "The Purgative Smiler," which implies that her pleasure is one of relief at having successfully moved her bowels.

OK, OK, funny. But what's LHOOQ? I don't get it.; 9/03/2006 3:46 PM
Mr roT said...: The title is essentially a phonetic game. As Duchamp himself noted in a 1966 interview, "I really like this kind of game, because I find that you can do a lot of them. By simply reading the letters in French, even in any language, some astonishing things happen" (Cabanne 63). When read quickly in French, the title L.H.O.O.Q. sounds like a sentence translating to "She has a hot bum/ass." This is the most commonly sited meaning of the phrase, but many other ideas also surround this intriguing group of letters. Duchamp gave a "loose" translation of L.H.O.O.Q. as "there is fire down below" in a late interview (Schwarz 203). Steefel points out that, when spoken in English, L.H.O.O.Q. sounds like "LOOK" (50). Thus the piece could have a further function as a commentary on the relationship between artist and viewer, which Duchamp was admittedly very interested in. Kuspit supports a much more overtly sexual interpretation, explaining, "It is a multilayered pun: the letters become words which become a devaluing male comment on the beautiful, dignified woman - she's just another slut. She's smiling because she's thinking of being fucked - more probably, of masturbating, that is, fucking herself" ("Laugh" 111).

Here; 9/03/2006 3:51 PM
Tecumseh said...: What a schmuck, this Duchamp. Here is some more artsy-fartsy oeuvre of his.; 9/03/2006 4:10 PM
My Frontier Thesis said...: It's stuff like this that gets forwarded to good friends.; 9/03/2006 5:31 PM

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