Oh for gods sake, are we still discussing this? It's been almost a hundred years. Look:

> Submitted for the exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in 1917, Fountain was rejected by the committee, even though the rules stated that all works would be accepted from artists who paid the fee.

He was playfully trolling. That's what Dada was all about. Then it caused a stir, and in response to the controversy he didn't waver but kept going. "Let's see how far we can push this!"

I respect that, and the fact that people have been taking it as seriously as they have makes it more brilliant, but at its core it the whole thing was an epic art-troll by an already established artist. Can we finally get over that and stop over-interpreting it?

(bitter art school graduate)