Art discourse is afraid of humor. Even when an artist goes to the greatest lengths to release art from it's academic and historical baggage, inevitably the weight of art history always works its way back in. An evaluation of some of the great moments in art and humor can hopefully shed light on humor's important contribution. It is perhaps art's most powerful tool -- while beauty has powerfully seductive qualities, wit is so much more of a challenge. To tackle this subject, we met with Rob Pruitt as he prepared for an upcoming show at Gavin Brown's enterprise. Pruitt greets me with a big smile and shares the catalog for the show entitled iPruitt. The exhibition will consist of photographs taken by Pruitt since getting his iPhone.
"Almost everything I do I think relates back to ANDY WARHOL, because he's an artist I discovered when I was really young. My mother had a soup can poster hanging in our kitchen when I was 7, and I would stare at it every morning when I ate my cornflakes. Even back then, I thought, 'Boy, this is really funny.'
Warhol used to carry a Sony tape recorder around with him that he called 'his wife.' He would use it to take audio snapshots of celebrities and just anyone he would meet. For me, when I got my iPhone, I could relate to that impulse and that way of thinking of a machine as something humanoid. I thought of my iPhone as my second brain. I always have this feeling that I'm just a voyeur in my own life rather than an actual participant, but the iPhone makes me feel strangely less like a voyeur because the photos I take give me proof that I was actually there. When I look at the pictures I can remember she was wearing this and he was wearing that -- and look at how many baby Jesus penises there are at the Met.
Just like life, my new photos have a big range in emotion and tone. Some are simple and poignant, like pictures of the sea or a squirrel with a nut. A lot are comedic too, like in the show, there's a picture of my luggage coming out of the chute at the airport. Whenever I'm in that situation, I always think that my luggage is being born and it's coming down a birth canal, which I guess is actually only funny to me. Also, I took a picture of the men's room stall at the Minneapolis airport where Larry Craig was arrested for playing footsie with the undercover cop. It makes me laugh to think that this is now an historic site.
I always think of my art as funny, but I don't like to tell people that, because there's nothing sadder then a failed joke, and art has this great luxury where when it fails, people might not know and they might just see it as deep. One of my favorite funny artists is JONATHAN HOROWITZ. His portrait of George Bush obtained from the White House hung upside down always makes me laugh. I think URS FISCHER's enormous hole dug in the gallery floor is a riot -- when you're in a white cube space and you turn the corner, it's the last thing you'd expect to see. There are always a lot of laughs at a RACHEL HARRISON show. TABBOO! makes really funny art, like I'm thinking of a big glittery skyline painting that says in his signature font, 'New York at Night!' Most artists think that clichés are taboo but not TABBOO!, and really, when you think about it, taboo is the root of all humor."
JAMES FUENTES LAUGHS AT WORK BY
GILBERT & GEORGE
PIERO MANZONI
RICHARD PRINCE
MAURIZIO CATTELAN
MARTIN CREED
[From top to bottom] Rob Pruitt: installation view, September 16 thru October 14, 2006, courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York. Maurizio Cattelan: "Ave Maria," 2007, Courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery, New York. Jonathan Horowitz: Official Portrait of George W. Bush Available Free From the White House Hung Upside Down, 2001. Courtesy of Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York. Rachel Harrison: "Chicken," 2008, Courtesy of Greene Naftali. Photo: Jason Mandella. Urs Fischer: "You," 2007, photo courtesy of Ellen Page Wilson. Courtesy of Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York.
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