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EXHIBITIONS IN NEW YORK AND VERMONT: ARTFUL JESTERS AT THE PAINTING CENTER Artful Jesters At The Painting Center Co-curators, Nicholas Roukes and Charles Parness describe the exhibition as a confection of wackiness, parody, pathos and satire harnessed to intelligence and wit. The exhibition represents some of America’s funniest-serious artists and celebrated veterans of visual humor — Robert Arneson, Red Grooms, Peter Saul, Roy DeForest, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Warrington Colescott. The exhibition also features provocative works by newcomers who have inherited the proclivity for cracking visual jokes and poking fun at sacred cows and social conventions. It is virtually impossible to categorize the art of these artists insofar as much of it tends to engage more than one facet of humorous expression. In a single work, for example, an artist might choose to blend whimsy and parody as in the art of Red Grooms, Walter Askin, Toby Buonagurio, Janice Farley, Peter Reginato, and Ann Rogula ; or, gentle to not-so-gentle satire and absurdity as in the art of Gladys Nilsson, Warrington Colescott, Robert Arneson, Mick Sheldon and Mark Bryan. Inspired lunacy and provocative nonsense is amply provided by Jim Picco, Gerald Purdy, Trevor Winkfield, Robert Beauchamp, Karl Wirsum, and Jim Nutt. The artful jesters in this exhibition are direct descendants of Picasso, Miro, Chagall, Klee, Duchamp, Ernst, Calder, Dubuffet and Magritte — those maverick forerunners from art history who have shown us that jokes can be told in pictures as well as words. Although modern history has inherited a certain resistance towards humor in fine art, this exhibition is evidence that times have changed. In today’s culture, the seemingly incompatible difference between highbrow and lowbrow art appears not only reconciled to peaceful coexistence, but often to marvelous creative integration. The visual coupling of comic and tragic, sacred and profane, capricious and sober, rational and absurd, ideal and common,has, for all intents and purposes turned into a vital work ethic for many contemporary artists. Why do we need the Artful Jesters? Because their work is founded in humor , a much-needed commodity in our seemingly topsy-turvy world. Above all, these singularly inspired artists remind us that laughter is a congenital quality of human behavior, a sign of freedom, emotional health and communication through a universally understood language. Much can be learned through a joke, especially when it prompts a pregnant thought or metaphor. ### |
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© 2006 Nicholas Roukes. All Rights Reserved |