“Laughing Matters: Humor in Art” at DePaul Art Museum

April 27, 2013
DePaul Art Museum, Chicago

Presenters at this symposium examine the role of humor in American art of the 1960s and 1970s, with an emphasis on the Chicago Imagists. The program highlights the importance of satire, irony, and visual and verbal puns in seminal works by artists Jim Nutt, Karl Wirsum, Gladys Nilsson, Ray Yoshida, Barbara Rossi, and others in relationship to works by other American artists of the period.

Presentations include:

  • “Chicago Cracked: A Cultural Context for the Humor Present in the Early Work of Jim Nutt and Karl Wirsum” by Lynne Warren, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago;
  • “When the ‘Delinquents’ Strike Back” by Robert Cozzolino, Senior Curator and Curator of Modern Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts;
  • “The Many Facets of Humor” by Janice Fodor, Professor of English, Elmhurst College; and
  • “Seriously: A Conversation with the Fearsome Mr. Wirsum” with Karl Wirsum, Artist, and John Corbett, Writer, Curator, and Co-owner of Corbett vs. Dempsey Gallery. 

The embedded video features welcoming remarks by Suellen Rocca, Artist, Curator, and Director of Exhibitions, Elmhurst College—please click here to view all of the symposium sessions on YouTube.