"L.H.O.O.Q." by Marcel Duchamp is an example of what I love about art; to me, art is about consistently breaking boundaries and unspoken rules. It is about expressing individuality at every turn and presenting new ideas. In the case of this specific piece, the reappropriation of a famous art piece (in this case, the "Mona Lisa") results in what was a refreshingly new idea at the time. With the simple idea of placing a mustache on the subject of the iconic piece (which was printed on a postcard) with the letters "L.H.O.O.Q." printed underneath, Duchamp had presented his own art by manipulating an an already-existing and highly recognizable image with humor. The concept is like art folding into itself and an example of this concept in more modern times can be seen in the ubiquity of sampling in music.
The experimental short film "Un Chien Andalou," a collaboration between Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, was certainly one of the strangest films I've ever seen (it definitely didn't hold back as one of the first images was of a woman getting her eye sliced open). Honestly, the film seemed to surreal for me when we were watching it in class but when I read that it was based on actual dreams I started to open up to it more. Sometimes I just need to know the intention behind certain pieces of art to appreciate them because without it, it may seem like absurdity for the sake of being absurd.
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