Duchamp Triptych, 1998

In this edition, Elaine Sturtevant revisits three of Marcel Duchamp’s most iconic motifs: the bicycle wheel, the urinal (Fountain), and the optical spirals. True to her conceptual method developed since the mid-1960s, Sturtevant does not merely copy these images but strategically re-creates them, stripping away the aura of the original and the dominance of the artist’s signature. Rather than positioning imitation in opposition to originality, the triptych collapses that binary, exposing the mechanics of authorship and the circulation of images in art history. By re-performing Duchamp’s provocations, Sturtevant reveals the underlying structures of artistic identity and meaning. Her repetitions do not reproduce Duchamp – they expose Duchamp-as-phenomenon, allowing the viewer to engage with the work beyond the myth of the artist-genius. In this sense, Duchamp Triptych becomes less homage and more analytical lens, through which the viewer confronts the conditions that define and sustain “the work of art” itself.