Punk Rock is to music, as Dada is to art. Both genres are duplicated, watered down over time and often misunderstood. Yet when each emerged it was by turning the world on the tip of it's head, it was with a revolution.

When Dada emerged in 1916 it was as anti-art. In the pieces themselves Dada used everyday imagery and any item that one could put in a collage, unless those things were a part of “high art.” Dadaists used images of high art only if they were defacing it. The resulting artwork is chaotic. Anti-art can be anything from political messages achieved in collage or the infamous early Dadist exhibit that displayed a row of urinals and a woman in a a communion dress reciting lewd poetry to patrons. Famous images of Dada art can be found in the works of Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp and Jean Arp.

Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase

The word da da translates to yes yes, which is said to stand for a sarcastic and apathetic “yeah, yeah” like yeah, right. To many dadaists, art came secondary-- the philosophy and politics of the group was most important. Dadaists were fiercely anti-war, seeing war as a meaningless series of homicides. In Germany, Dada was not as strongly anti-art and more overtly political, perhaps because of their proximity to the front. Many Dadaists would die under Hitler's reign in concentration camps, as he was persecuting the “degenerate art” (generally all modern art) which Dadaists were heavily a part of.

The Dadaist movement in New York however was not as political, yet still subscribed to a nihilist philosophy, like all Dadaists. New York artists were more focused on being anti-art and satirizing anything of “high art” and were also known for their use of irony. It was in this vein that Duchamp created his infamous “fountain” piece, a urinal signed “R. Mutt.”

A Dadist art piece is the ideal gift for any lover of non-conformity in your life. The ideas of going against the grain, being anti-war and anti-tradition still live on today as punk rock, and in most artist ideals. Surprise the revolutionary in your life with a reproduction of a Marchel Duchamp painting and drop a little bit of your new-found knowledge on Dadism....it is sure to make an impression and secure you a spot in hipness forever!