Man Ray for Teenagers

I saw this ad on the New York Times Website:

It's animated, so perhaps you can't see it here. But it takes a punny stand. It reads:

When When kids think Man Ray is a poisonous jellyfish, clearly there isn't enough art in our schools.

For those of you who don't know, Man Ray is a photographer with a weird name and, tastes that maybe we'll just call "salacious".


Take a look at the girl in the ad, then take a look at the first few hits on Google's Image results for Man Ray.

OK, actually, don't look at that link. It could get you fired if you're at work, but I wanted to make the point.

Avant-garde?
--Sure.
Art?
--Yeah.
Naked women as the subject of art for teenagers first exposures to the fine arts?
-- Er, uh . . . maybe we should do less exposing of people and introduce from now on . (Or at least until they think that hanging a Marcel Duchamp print is just as cool as a Man Ray.)

Technically Dada, one could still safely call "The Fountain" by Marcel Duchamp Avante-garde.