Parody in Postmodern Art

In postmodern artwork there has been several types of themes which revolve around an imitation of another artist's work. One of these theme is parody. A parody is a specific type of imitation, it does not pay respect to the work it is imitating, despite whether it is worthy of respect or not. Instead, parody art pokes fun at the artist or artwork it is replicating, the intent of parody is to be humorous in its creation. One artist who uses the idea of parody is Marcel Duchamp. One of his clearest examples of this form of art is found in his painting called  L.H.O.O.Q. pictured below:
 

Most everybody should be familiar with Leonardo's Mona Lisa, and once laying eyes on Duchamp's work, its target of the Mona Lisa is obvious. This work is a parody in the sense that it intents to take the famed Mona Lisa and recreate it in a way that is humorous, contrasting the seriousness with which the original is supposed to be viewed. Even the name itself a parody. When pronounced in French L.H.O.O.Q. creates the sentence Elle a chaud au cul, which can roughly be translated into English as "Her ass in on fire". This sentence completely tarnishes the name of the Mona Lisa, and it becomes especially humorous when combined with a woman with an goatee and mustache.

Another example of a parody can be seen in Duchamp's work called "The Fountain".

The idea of this picture as a parody is a little more complicated than Duchamp's imitation of the Mona Lisa. This work is a parody on art in general. The piece of "art" is simply and overturned urinal. In this picture Duchamp is poking fun at art in general, and what can be considered it. This is a parody on abstract art by questioning just how far-fetched and ambiguous art has become in the modern day.