La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même
Multi media on two panes of glass with two panes of glass
with materials such as oils paint, lead foil, fuse wire, varnish and dust. 1915-1923 (unfinished)
I often talk about the enormous influence Marcel Duchamp's masterwork "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even" had on me over the years particularly as I was fine-tuning and honing the Beanworld.
"The Large Glass," as it's often nicknamed, is sort of like a diagram of shadows from another dimension that are suggestions for animated activities to be interpreted by the viewer in his or her own imagination.
Not bad stuff for 1915.
Duchamp referred to this other dimension as the Inframince.
It translates from the French into something like "very thin."
Sometimes on a panel or giving a presentation, I'll jokingly refer to Beanworld taking place in a "two-and-one-half dimensional space. " What I mean is in the Beanworld there appears to be very little difference between foreground, middle ground, and background. The Beanworld as a visual and dramatic tableau is indeed "very thin." Always to be looked at from one side and going infinitely left, right, up, and down.
Sometimes I call it "endless ant farm space." As if the Beanworld takes place between two panes like the ulta-classy Duchampian Large Glass and also like the silly post-war toy co-invented by Milton Levine who recently passed away.
I never owned my own ant farm but I remember friends and neighbors having one. Clearly the idea of it stuck in my head all my life, don'tcha think?
Rest in Peace Uncle Milton.
Your influence cast a very wide net indeed.
