Guest-curated by Brigitte Martin, author of the recently released book titled Humor in Craft, and the creator of crafthaus, this world premiere exhibition at Contemporary Craft highlights a diverse range of media, techniques and artists, and challenges viewers to move beyond their own frames of reference when considering approaches to contemporary art.
The concept of “funny” can vary widely due to a variety of factors, such as social background, personal experiences and values, knowledge of popular culture events, education and national origin. While there are overlaps, as well as differences, in humor perception, hardly any topic is off-limits for the artists in this exhibition.
Apparently everything can be made fun of – and why not laugh at the human foibles, the banana-peel jokes, and, yes, the politicians. Martin comments, “When I embarked on assembling images of humorous craft artwork, it became clear rather quickly that, even though everyone likes to share funny stories, humor definitely takes on different meanings. So the question arose, what do we laugh at? Are there images or artwork that everyone finds hilarious? Are there topics that are off-limits and how far can you go before it?s just not funny anymore? And who gets to decide that this point has been reached?”
Read reviews of Humor and Craft here.
Humor in Craft Companion Coffee-Table Book offers full-color documentation of 235 makers worldwide and is available at Contemporary Craft.
