Humor and absurdity as a concept

« Humor and absurdity as a concept Introduction “Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.” Aristotle “I’m not being purposely humorous.

I do think the world is absurd.” John Baldessari Art is known for privileging ideas over objects and for presenting itself as a system or language that also involve and element of derision.

The targets? The artist himself, the system, and the nature and function of art in different political climates. In appearance, nothing seems less compatible with conceptual art than humor.

Humor isn’t the first thing that most people associate with conceptual art or art itself.

The art world and art industry throughout the ages have always been considered as austere, pretentious and reductive and conceptual art is often taken in a very intellectual and cerebral way, but despite these typical characterization there are some wildly amusing and funny works, along with absurd and thought provoking ones which we will discuss later on in this essay. Laughter and mockery has a major role in what lights the fuse or reasoning. Humor is an incredibly important element of contemporary art, it can convey anything to anyone regardless of who they may be.

In the sterile, literal and mainstream world that we are in today, humor makes it possible for us to think and review content that is served to us. Humor pinpoints problems with society, exposes reality with a twist, and provides artists with a kaleidoscopic palette of expression.

In this essay I will argue the importance of of humor and its role as a catalyst for thought and reflection throughout parts of history to modern day, from Magritte, to the Dada movement to John Baldessari and the more recently deceased Virgil Abloh (ikeaxOffWhite) Marcel Duchamp quotes [Humor is a] great power...

a sort of savior so to speak be- cause, before, art was such a serious thing, so pontifical that I was very happy when I discovered that I could introduce humor into it.

lhe discovery of humor was a liberation. Marcel Duchamp Humor in Art: the beginnings Commonly (the human race), we find ourselves intimidated when visiting a museum or a galleries and find ourselves in grand hallways and rooms surrounded and abundance of inestimable sculptures, installations or paintings.

We very rarely enter a museum.

And expect these environments to inspire humorous responses nor have any comedic effects. Everything we see in a museum is to be taken seriously, in silence and it isn’t commonly know as a place for laughter and entertainment. A brief step back in history before conceptual art: the world of art is riddled with examples of humorous works.

Of the works that have strikes me are caricatures from the French revolution.

Revolutionary’s caricatures has a heritage that dates back the old regime. It’s finest brilliance is undoubtedly between1789 and 1792 where there are more than 600 different pieces of this trade in political laughter sends satire.It borrows some of its figures from popular culture, mainly grotesque, and offers a deformation that lends itself to laughter, leaning into fantasy.

The caricatures are an element where political imagination is create, responding not events and elaborating a myriad of symbols and figures, giving the weapon of laughter or derision a formidable effectiveness. In the above example are represented three characters representing the state, church sitting on top of the poor (peasants, workers etc..) denouncing inequalities and the weight6 that represents those two preorders for the rest of the population. 18th century caricature from the French Revolution, Anonymous https://www.carnavalet.paris.fr/collections/revolution-francaise-ancien-regime-caricature-sur-les-troisordres-le-tiers-etat (accessed 15th January 2023) After this short voyage through history one worthy of mentioning is René Magritte (18981977), a Belgian virtuoso of surrealism paintings and a master in the art of absurdity.

Not a conceptual artist per se.

The painting La Clairvoyance (1936) is a self portrait depicting himself painting a bird but using an unhatched egg for reference.

The title suggest that Magritte is posing himself as a clairvoyant predicting the future of the egg and painting it.

The sense of absurdity and the nature of the artists humor is undeniable in what Clairvoyance evokes. Political satire to the beginnings of conceptual art. In response to the absurdity and tragedy of the WW1, a new movement was born called Dadaism”.

To escape the horrors of war and tragedy, a group of artists, poets and writers and like minded individuals fled to neutral Switzerland where they founded a group at the “Сafe Voltaire in Zurich. Café-Cabaret Voltaire Zurich https://www.theatreartlife.com/lifestyle/thecabaret-voltaire-in-zurich-the-birthplace-of-dada/ (accessed 14th January 2023) “Dadaism” intends to destroy conventional art and literature.

It brought together writers and artists who refused to have any role in the war.

According to founders, the name itself means nothing and designates nothingness.

In 1918, Dadaism reached its peak when Marcel Duchamp joined the Zurich group.

In 1919.

“Dada” arrives in Germany with Max Ernst, Raul Haussmann and in France with the installation of Tzara in Paris, It then appeared in New York in 1919 and spread around Europe until 1923.

Ultimately, Dadaism aims to reverse the traditional concept of art by using provocative and absurdist performances with the intention to shock bourgeois audience out of their comfort zones. As Hans Arp quotes “Revolted by the butchery of the 1914 World War, we in Zurich devoted ourselves to the arts.

While the guns rumbled in the distance, we sang, painted, made collages and wrote poems with all our might.” One of the founding members of the Berlin Dada groups, came up with idea of collage as a tool for satire and political criticism, one of his iconic photo montages is “Der Kunskritiker” – The art critic” Raul Haussmann The art Critic (1919-20) Tate https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hausmann-the-artcritic-t01918 (accessed 15th January 2023) The movement dissipated with the establishment of surrealism however, the Dada movement remains the antecedent to modern conceptual art. One of the most important actors of the Dada movement was the involvement of Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) who is considered as the forefather of modern conceptual art.

His role in Conceptualism can be summarized with the “created” and quickly rejected work; “Fountain”.

The idea of submitting his work to a New York exhibition was provocative, absurd and undeniably humoresque, provoking outrage, though and questioning within the art world.

This act called into question what is art, and what is considered art.

Conceptual art is not easy to label and define because it avoids or tries to avoid cliches and goes beyond the borders of traditional art.

Even without context or description in a gallery , the exposition of a mass produced urinal would capture the attention of visitors and provoke a reaction, questions.

Rosenthal quotes about the way humor works in art using Duchamp’s Readymades “ His use of irony, puns, alliteration and paradox layered the works with humor while still enabling him to comment on the dominant political and economic systems of his time” With this defiance of convention and tradition “Fountain” became an iconic example of humoresque anti-art” “Fountain”1917 replica 1964 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-fountain-t07573 (accessed 13th January 2023) Link between humor and art Although The use of Humor in art has only been legitimized since modern times, both terms belong to the same domain.Humor, like artistic creation is born out of the ability to play. The paradoxical characteristic of playing is that it allows the “pleasure” principle to coexist with the “reality” principle.

As derivatives of play, humor and art inherit from the ability to.... »