Marcel Duchamp and William Burroughs

Marcel Duchamp was a painter and mixed media artist. It is said that he changed the course of art history.  He was mainly associated with Cubism and Futurism in his earlier paintings.  Although he avoided alliances, he is said to have spearheaded the American Dada movement.  He incessantly pushed the boundaries of art and had an ongoing preoccupation with desire and human sexuality.  He is best known as the father of Conceptual art.  He believed that art could be about ideas instead of worldly things. 

 William Burroughs was an American novelist, painter, short storyist.  His works are said to have been important in the development of many subcultures of the twentieth century such as Hippies and Punks and for this reason, he was best known as having been culturally influential.  It is also said that he was a homosexual who murdered his second wife.  His misogyny and drug addiction are said to be what made his literary works so interesting. 

 The comparison between these two artists is quite interesting.  The similarity appears to be related to their desires in pushing the limits and boundaries of art.  They also both based some of their works on sexuality, but most importantly, they were both influential and changed the course of art history.