Humor in Visual Art

Catalog description

Humor often functions like a Trojan Horse, bypassing the guardians of the status quo and drawing laughter before it’s clear exactly what’s happened. What’s smuggled in under the guise of a joke may often be very serious, and funny and frivolous are far from being the same thing. This course focuses on humor in visual arts practice and starts by analyzing the many flavors of funny: satire, irony, slapstick, abjection, deadpan, and plays with language (puns, double entendre). What happens in the realm of the visual, when there isn’t the presence of a performing body to deliver the joke? Insightful and incendiary critiques have often been delivered through the complex strategies of humor, and we will consider both historical and recent examples. Humor and transgression often keep close company and what we repress often erupts through the societal bounds of taste and decorum. Humor can be provocative but also malicious; this course requires that students clearly respect each other’s boundaries. Historical examples will include Archimboldo, José Guadalupe Posada, and Marcel Duchamp; contemporary artists will include Sarah Lucas, Kara Walker, Maurizio Cattelan, Fischli and Weiss, Kate Gilmore, David Shrigley, Bruce Nauman, Hennessey Youngman, and Sally O’Reilly. There will be opportunity for direct conversation with some of artists whose work we are studying. Students may work in a variety of different media, which could change from project to project. Although the course will yield work that is funny, the goal is ultimately to make work that helps us understand how funny works.