What’s So Funny About Modern Art?

Modern art takes itself much too seriously. Even the Pop artists often took the fun out of whatever they touched—a reverse Midas touch rendering even comedy gold into dross. Andy Warhol immortalized Elvis and Marilyn not at their peak of pure joy, but at their most tragic low. In Renegade Humor, which runs at the San Jose Museum of Art through July 8, 2012, the search for a sense of humor in modern art finally succeeds. Gathering together art since 1960 from the SJMA’s collection as well as pieces designed especially for the exhibition, Renegade Humor goes maverick and bucks the trend. Renegade Humor plays for laughs, but also proves that you can laugh and think at the same time. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "What’s So Funny About Modern Art?"

[Image: Peter VandenBerge. Couple Watching Saturday Night Movie, 1969. Ceramic. 13 x 12 x 11 inches. San Jose Museum of Art. Museum purchase with funds from the Collection Committee.]

[Many thanks to the San Jose Museum of Art for the image above and other press materials related to Renegade Humor, which runs through July 8, 2012.]

An Insistent History: Declaring the Women’s Art Revolution at the Sundance Film Festival

Calling it “an insistent history that refuses to wait any longer to be told,” Lynn Hershman Leeson declares “WAR,” her acronym for the women’s art revolution begun in the 1970s, through the film !Women Art Revolution, which will be shown as part of the New Frontier series at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Ms. Leeson spent the last 42 years filming feminists on the front lines of the battle for artistic equality as well as joining the battle herself. As writer, director, producer, and narrator of the film, Leeson resurrects the spirit of the ‘70s and recovers the lost history of women in art. This “insistent history” refuses to go away, and this film and the historical projects linked to it ensure that it never will. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "An Insistent History."

[Many thanks to Lynn Hershman Leeson for providing me with a review copy of her film, !Women Art Revolution. Many thanks also to the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for providing me with the image above and other press materials. The festival will be open free to the public Thursday, January 20, through Saturday, January 30, 2011.]