Jared Antonio-Justo Trujillo

R. Mutt

Toilet Tissue Holder, Vinyl Text

2008

For this particular installation I wanted to do a piece that paid homage to the great Marcel Duchamp. The piece i chose to do was directly related to his most famous piece, The Fountain, that he submitted to a show in 1917 as a joke.   All he needed to do to meet the requirements, was a $100 dollars and a piece of art. So Marcel did just that, he submitted what he thought was a piece of art with his money under his alias R. Mutt, and changed the modern art world for ever. The  piece he submitted was a store bought urinal, which was quickly rejected by the jury. The piece  he "chose" would not meet the criteria of an authentic piece of art. But Duchamp knew all to well that, with the public display of The Fountain, he would be taking off a lid that was screwed on tightly, and  there was never going to be the slightest possibility that it would be screwed down afterwards. Art has escaped, and was enveloping the world. To me his by far the most influential modern artist of are time. Modern art would not be where it is with out this piece.

So for this piece I wanted to blur the same lines Marcel did. I wanted to take an ordinary object and make it art. It is art Because i choose it. I am the reason it is art, I give it tis value. I took an article of life, placed it so its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view, which intern created a new thought for the object. For this piece thats exactly what i wanted to do and i believe I have  succeeded. I also had audio playing back toilet bowls flushing which  tied the piece together. In the future I plan  to do more using the same ideals Marcel Duchamp did.