Snow Shovels and Dada in CanaDada

Marcel Duchamp
"In Advance of the Broken Arm or Shovel" Replica 1964
Original: Nov. 1915, New York (lost)
wood and galvanized-iron
American snow shovel
readymade
no dimensions recorded

It seems to me that these days, with all this snow, I am involved in some kind of subversive Dadaist performance piece. In as much as I'm being forced to spend a couple of hours everyday shoveling snow from my driveway and walkways using Marcel Duchamp's provocative piece from 1915 titled "In Advance of the Broken Arm or Shovel". Therefore, instead of being in my studio I'm outside manipulating the Duchamp piece (above) around my property in Canada. I truly think that Joseph Beuys' statement that "The silence of Duchamp is overrated." is a very fitting in light of all the use I'm getting of his piece in the form of the snow shovel. Maybe he should of painted a landscape or two instead of remaining silent in his later years. Then again, maybe living in New York taught him the value of this shovel in our society as it was easier to shovel winter (rain) out of the driveway in Paris than in the North and North East of North America.