In the history of Art, few mediums have been as inextricably linked to a single artist as with the readymade with Marcel Duchamp. While others have tried- and certainly many have- few have met any measure of success. Indeed, Duchamp’s work so scandalized the art world that few were ever even exhibited, and most discarded as rubbish. Perhaps his most famous work, “Fountain”, was denied entry to the unjuried exhibition. A replica of the long-since destroyed piece, one of 8 commissioned by the artist himself shortly before his death, sold at Sotheby’s in 1999 for $1.7 million, and in 2004 was named “The most influential artwork of the 20th century” by a panel of 500 artists. When Duchamp abandoned the medium in the 1920s, no artist was foolish enough to take it up. When the art world finally caught up in the 1960s, few were able to achieve the level of legitimacy that Duchamp brought.
I thought it notable, then, when I saw a new public exhibition of one artist’s readymades in Eugene this past week. I discovered this artist’s work while biking home from work, far from the city’s many downtown galleries, though I have since been informed that several of his compositions are displayed on their walls. While I can’t say that this anonymous artist will be the next Duchamp, he is certainly worthy of note.
Same, Untitled, 2009, spraypaint on wood, 408” x 18” x 18”. Oakway Street, Eugene, Oregon.
While Duchamp sought to elevate the mundane, to celebrate the unseen beauty in the nondescript; Same takes a somewhat different approach. His artwork is not here to celebrate the nondescript, he wishes to highlight the trees in the forest, to alert us to unseen dangers in our midst.
The human brain evolved to recognize changes. When primitive man walked through a field, it would do him no good to notice the same grass he’d seen every day. Noticing the places where the grass had changed- trampled into a trail, perhaps by dinner, perhaps by a potential rival for the top spot on the food chain- this is a trait which served him well in his quest to survive.
Same, Untitled, 2009, spraypaint on steel pipe, 56” x 4” x 4”. Oakway Street, Eugene, Oregon.
Same, here making a brilliant use of vertical space, recognizes that our modern predators do not leave trails in the grass. One utility pole is an imposing object. Tangible, intimidating. There are thousands, though, and with thousands of utility poles in a city, they become mundane, invisible. We see so many each day that, paradoxically, we never even notice them.
Same has used his spraycan to call attention to individual poles, and in doing so, he calls attention to the larger forest delivering electricity, cable television, and the internet to sedate the masses. This is our modern predator, slinking through the skies in narrow black cables. This is what we must learn to respect if we are to survive the next hundred thousand years.
Same, Untitled, 2009, spraypaint on wiring enclosure, 16” x 14” x 30”. Oakway Street, Eugene, Oregon.
This wiring enclosure was designed by a team of engineers specifically to be non-descript, to be invisible, so as to not lower property values. Same calls attention to it, his moniker identifying not only himself but also the state of the thing: Sameness. We ignore these plastic parasites, allowing them to invade our yards in exchange for the sweet nectar of telecommunications. We believe the relationship is symbiotic, but in reality they take away more than they give us.
Same, Untitled, 2009, spraypaint on cement and steel, 42” x 42”. Oakway Street, Eugene, Oregon.
Same’s work approaches the medium with fresh eyes and offers a new perspective on the readymade. He manages to make us question ourselves as much as when Duchamp signed a urinal in 1917, although in a different way. Rather than asking ourselves, “What is art”, we must ask ourselves whether our society is heading down the right path. Do we wish to continue to take refuge in our homes and offices, our lives playing out in ones and zeros on flickering phosphors?
A word to the technical merits of Same’s pieces. Yes, the medium is not for everyone. I’m sure many people will just ignore these pieces, passing by them without a second thought. In a way, that’s part of the message. Just as Same has selected seemingly-arbitrary utility poles and panels out of thousands, it is the rare person who will truly be able to appreciate the artistic intent behind his work. The composition is superb, and the monochromatic palette is yet another glimpse into the deep sophistication which is barely evident in such a technically simplistic work. The selection of a single color once again presents the theme of a single object to typify an easily ignored quantity. One imagines the artist at Home Depot, comparing dozens of Krylon caps, before stuffing the perfect under his oversized sweatshirt.
Humanity survived its adolescence by picking out subtle hints in its environment: a broken twig, a bent leaf. Slight differences in a sea of sameness that signaled food, or shelter, or danger. Same endeavors to bring this awareness to humanity as it exists today, snapping twigs with a can of paint. There are no easy answers to the questions he asks. Each person must answer for him or herself. For Same, it’s enough to broach the subject.
Same’s work is currently on display on the east side of Oakway Road between Cal Young and Coburg in Eugene, Oregon until someone sandblasts it off.
