When I visited the home of Mahatma Gandhi near Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where he sat and worked and met heads of state; I was moved to make this miniature painting of the receiving room. I wanted to be present there with him in the painting, so I chose Marcel Duchamp’s readymade Bicycle Wheel 1913 as my avatar.
In his studio Duchamp mounted a bicycle wheel upside down onto a stool, spinning it occasionally just to watch it. Although it is often assumed that theBicycle Wheel represents the first of Duchamp’s “Readymades”, this particular installation was never submitted for any art exhibition, and it was eventually lost. However, initially, the wheel was simply placed in the studio to create atmosphere: “I enjoyed looking at it just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in a fireplace.”
I guess the one in the readymade in the window just isn’t the same, bummer. On another note, here is another readymade reference in a drawing I did while doing my general military training in Petawawa, in the summer of 1977 just after graduating from The Ontario College of Art.
Napo B "Live" 