Art: Why So Serious?

This was today's entry for my creation-a-day challenge.

One of my tricks as a designer for keeping the spontaneous creative inspiration flowing is that whatever projects I'm doing, try to alternate one project serious, one project funny/stupid/not serious. Such a key part of unlocking your ability to create original ideas out of thin air is to allow in your mind even the dumbest of ideas. Creating something that's genuinely funny to you supercharges and motivates you, but letting yourself play with some ideas that are just dumb lays a foundation for a healthy relationship with the inner workings of your mind. Because you want your subconscious mind to feel the freedom to hurl tons of ideas at you when you need them.

There are even a ton of examples in fine art. But that's enough of that. Let's look at something funny.

Someone punched a hole in a $10 million Monet and recently went to jail for it. You can read about it here (brace yourself). But this is the most hilarious thing I've read in a long time. Now you're probably thinking, "Has Sal gone crazy? He is an artist--shouldn't he be upset?" It is definitely a travesty of art, Monet is possibly my favorite painter ever, and I am also an expressionist (salvatoreart.com), but read the rest of the story.

The guy claimed to have accidentally fallen over and hit the painting with his elbow due to a heart condition. But a witness told the court that he lunged at the painting with a clenched fist like a hammer. Like superman. But he's trying to tell the court it was a heart condition. He had 48 -- 48! -- prior convictions that included having stolen maps from the 1600s worth thousands of dollars in his possession, and damaging other artwork. But he's saying it was a heart condition! He just does not stand a chance! There's no way. The event was even captured on camera, clearly showing him lunge like MegaMan at the painting. And his story is, "heart condition". He's just so screwed, the whole thing is hysterical to me.

To make it even funnier, you only have to search "monet punch" in google and it comes right up.

Rest assured, the incident was actually two years ago and the painting has since been repaired. I would be honored if one of my pieces was taken off this planet like this. It'll all eventually turn to dust; might as well happen in a fun way.

More about humor in art. Many of the pieces in the reactionary movements across art history are actually making fun of what they're reacting to. Even Whistler's Mother was deadpan (my theory). The easiest to look at is the current reactionary movement in contemporary art: postmodernism. We've been seeing it for decades en masse now, and now it's in all our media and art. It's all about questioning the established systems, exposing the problems, and trying to find the next step. There is perhaps no better tool for exposing and talking about those things than humor. There's so much truth in humor. Sitcoms, cartoons, comics, movies, music--in our generation humor is everywhere.






I always think of Calvin and Hobbes. A great example about how easy it is to hear a serious message from someone or something that is not usually serious. People are often most impressed by serious performances by famous comics. I think their craft in comedy requires them to work more closely with the truth than they get credit for.

In the high art / fine art world you've got names like Paul McCarthy, Jeff Koons, and Banksy. All that create work that's funny. It's not all funny, and sometimes the piece wasn't meant to be funny, but it is. I think that's a side effect of hitting you in the face with that much truth in that way that happens to be your sense of humor. And it is acceptable to laugh.

Train, Paul McCarthy

Banksy, Graffiti Artist

Banksy, Street Artist

On honesty and comedy, even your own train of thought is often funny if you just let it go word-vomit style.

Some day I will write a post with my full treatise on how to generate creative and original ideas, but for now, know the most important part, of everything, of it all: enjoy it. To what end is life if not to live?

Perhaps there can be no true art apart from comedy.