A few days ago Ric brought my attention to the MoMA retrospective of Duchamp with his words on Wheel Fanatyk. Then the next day the New Yorker fed me a story about Duchamp inspired by the MoMA show in the May 4, 2026 issue.
When various forces in the universe come together and focus on something, I pay attention. I will not be visiting the museum in New York but I’ve already learned more about Duchamp than I knew a few days ago.
I pulled my bicycle wheel sculpture from its sad storage spot under the stairs and dusted it off. It was really really dusty.
In 1996 I “borrowed” this stool from Kids Co, my POE at the time. I drilled out a hole for a fork and slapped a wheel on it. Several years later I swapped out the nameless fork for this REDLIP fork that I bent one morning bombing down Denny and plowing into the back of a Cadillac that had stopped suddenly mid-hill.
The wheel changed several times. But for the past 20 years or so it has been this radially laced thing I built and rode downtown until the sidewalls were as concave as a cereal bowl. Seattle sidewall syndrome develops as your brake pads grind away at your rims over time. I once rode a wheel until the tire exploded when the sidewall peeled away as I took a right turn downtown. After that incident, I paid a bit more attention to my wheels.
In 2011, I spray painted the stool green. I remember the year because Junior was there in the backyard with me and Junior’s mom was worried about the paint fumes. I’ll tell you that whole green spray paint story some day.
Yesterday I reached up on a high shelf for my Time-Life Art Library book about Duchamp and his influence on various artists. I have the 1974 re-reprint and I’m actually starting to read it. I was surprised to learn how many copies of this book are available out there in the world if you want to get one for yourself.
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