Fountain (Madonna) 1991

Sherrie Levine made this bronze "Fountain (Madonna)", and it's not just a readymade, it's like, a readymade elevated to sculpture. And by "elevated" I mean bronzed. It looks weighty, permanent, luxurious. The highly polished surface of the bronze reflects light. You can see the room reflected in it. Each crease and curve seems intensified, somehow more sculptural, more Madonna-like. Levine is making a statement about originality, authorship, and the value we place on art objects. There is a definite feminine quality to this work, which sets it apart from the original which Duchamp submitted to the Society of Independent Artists in 1917. I suppose there is something goddess-like about the curves of the ceramic urinal which Levine casts in bronze. Levine's work reminds me of Elaine Sturtevant, another artist who "re-presents" the work of other artists, blurring the lines between imitation, homage, and critique. Both Levine and Sturtevant challenge our notions of artistic genius. What is original after all?