Dovetail Reception is October 3, 2023 from 6-8pm

From the Curator:

"There is nothing like a gleam of humor to reassure you that a fellow human being is ticking inside a strange face." –Eva Hoffman

 From physical humor to surreal absurdity, deadpan satire to macabre hyperbole, from low-brow to high-brow, puns or parodies, there are so many diverse outlets for this important function of human society, humor. But apparently humor is no joke. Research demonstrates its powerful capacity to create empathy and stimulate self-reflection. Humor, tied to the specifics of culture and combined with individual personality, creates a sharp double-edged sword that can—in one swoop—unite, and in another divide, at times bridging and at times delineating social boundaries.

Art museums and galleries parade as pantheons of preciousness and prestige—places where humor has not always been welcome. The art world has always thrived on creating in and out groups. Those who can and can’t. Those who get it, those who don’t. Those who play the game, those who undermine, and those who don’t give two hoots. From the historical relegation of artistic humor to political cartoons, to a contemporary palette for only irony and mockery, can we have a real, even joyful, laugh and still call something serious art?  Viewers and artists alike may struggle to navigate the line between sensitivity and not taking themselves too seriously. Can we find ways to experience art and humor as connective, rather than divisive? 

 This collection of artworks playfully explores various modalities of humor as artists engage a wide variety of topics in their pithy practices. Many artists invite you into challenging topics that might hit that funny bone.  Did you laugh?  Great. You didn’t laugh? That’s ok, that’s not necessarily the point anyway.  Whether you “liked” a particular style of humor or not, observe how the humor in that piece affected your posture towards considering the artist's deeper purpose. Observe how humor, no matter how feeble, or dumb, or witty, or strange, connected you to someone else. 

And please—do us a favor, even out of pity—laugh out loud just a little. 

Funny Bone is open from September 9 - November 4, 2023

Curated by Sarah Bernhardt

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