A strong devotee of modern art of the 20th century, Mike Bidlo creates exact replicas with free-hand drawings of work by well-known 20th modernists including Picasso and Matisse. Many of his works are devoid of color.

His replicas of Duchamp's bottle rack --- the original representing an appropriation of a different sort --- are arranged directly on the floor like skeletal crowns or vertical lobster traps.

Bidlo's recreations are intended to irritate the viewer and provoke unease, and many of those who experience that reaction regard their response as a testamony to his strength. One of the irritants is that you are not supposed to copy or imitate other peoples' art. Bidlo, by refusing to be original, is an original.

...