THE MOMENTARILY ABSURD

14 Jul-16 Sep 2012

Overview

Littlewhitehead / Harry Hill / DoyleMaillinson / Julie Cockburn / John Stezaker / Alison Jackson / Peter Kennard. A group exhibition that looks at wit in contemporary art. Humour, like art relies upon background to engender emotions and thoughts that have not been previously experienced. By using humour artists reveal the hidden structures of our ordered world. The simplest of jokes strain the fabric of our language or social structure, rendering them momentarily absurd. There is a jolt as we struggle to understand the illogical and humour is created in this shift from reality to unreality. It is a way of avoiding direct responsibility, criticising social systems from within, enabling us to escape from our normal ordered world. Through humour we can to address the taboo opening up a wider discourse to important topics. Humour is now firmly established in the art world and it has long been accepted that witty work can indeed be very serious.