 Tom Chimes This work was inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s humorous puns and word games, which often took on double meanings of a sexual nature. The words “Master” and “Own,” painted in bright, Pop Art colors, refer to Duchamp’s Large Glass, that great allegory of frustrated desire, which Chimes repeatedly studied at the Philadelphia Museum of Art during this period. When the metal plates are removed to reveal additional letters, so that “Master” becomes “Master-bation” and “Own” becomes “Own-anism.” These references to masturbation and onanism, a recurring theme in Duchamp’s work, are enhanced by electrical “desire” switches, and images of female and male genitalia in the upper right-hand corner and lower left-hand corner respectively. |
