Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One

Humor, whether it takes the form of caricature, visual puns, or satire, sheds light on cultural norms while also challenging them. When artists use the power of humor to critique, puzzle, or provoke laughter, it also disrupts the false expectation that art is only for quiet contemplation. This exhibition considers how some artists use humor to communicate: Do they invert familiar motifs and tropes? Do they reveal ingrained social absurdities? Do they inspire us to think differently?

The exhibition is organized around three sections: The Set Up, Critical Amusements, and The Last Laugh. In each, we see artists deploy parody, wit, sarcasm, or even surrealist humor—which is macabre, ironic, and usually absurd—sometimes including us and sometimes having a laugh at our expense.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.