Stress Joy Committee[1]
Presented here are artists finding the frivolity of their own art by indulging in a bit of self-satire. Artists were asked to make a “cartoon” of their art: a caricature of their work’s most distinguished traits — good and/or bad. Most important is how these artists consider laughing at themselves. Making a playful judgement of their own practice might just help them see it from an outsider perspective and self-distancing can provide a healthy dose of self-criticism[2]. Learning to laugh at ourselves can be freeing and looking at our mishaps in a more benevolent way is a great stress reliever. It is even thought that having a sense of humor helps manage pain[3]…maybe even the pain of painting. Being able to recognize and then joke about our own weaknesses and anxieties is liberating. To joke is to be free and when humor is directed inward, self-persiflage can be used as a protest to subverting the status quo, it can be used to reflect and deflect societal/cultural constraints[4], and enable a break from methodological recipes or formulaic mannerisms towards aesthetic freedom.[5] In order for this to happen, artists must be courageously silly, contrasting play from work, and relieving any and all seriousness.[6] It is with hope that these contributions can collectively assist in the development of these artists’ creative practices and when shared, can provide a bit of community and comic relief.
[1]The work of Loretta LaRoche is inspiration for the title of this project, and frankly, for trying to live a little less tense. She is a Brooklyn born, hilarious and brilliant motivational speaker grounded in science and psychology. She strives to help her audience members and workshop participants use an array of techniques on how to use humor as a coping mechanism for stress management. For example, in one of her PBS specials she gets the crowd to laugh out loud for thirty seconds, forcefully faking it. As the camera spans over the audience some people are very skeptical, but oblige. It becomes apparent LaRoche’s objective takes over making people actually feel good. Their fake laughs turn to real cackles. Just going through the motion of smiling and laughing, even if not initially genuine, releases endorphins relaxing us and making us happier. According to LaRoche, being able to use humor to heal our mind, body, and spirit often starts with understanding how we have been inhibited to laugh at ourselves (and be judgmental of others) in the first place. Many of our expectations with humor have been shaped by others: from loved ones to society at large. Before we can tap into the physical and mental attributes of humor, LaRoche often asks her viewers to (re)consider who is on their “committee”, to put them on a bus, and take them for a ride. [https://www.lorettalaroche.com]; “Joy of Stress” video clip [https://youtu.be/mlETVAeL1GY] [2] What happens to those who cannot afford for others to think less of them? How exactly might this prompt to publicly laugh at oneself impact participating artists living in the margins of society: female, queer bodies, persons of color, and so on? How will these people who are willing to partake in some self-satire reconcile prejudices already working against them? Will their participation perpetuate prejudices and reassure stereotypes or will their participation work as protest and subversion to destabilize cultural myths and contradictions? Shucks, initially, I just wanted to see a cartoon of my peers’ work, but recognizing the broader implications of this request might cause some real unwanted damage. Ok, but even so, humor is weaponry. Heike Munder, in Humor: The Secret of Aesthetic Sublimation (2005), speaks to how comedy yields power and superiority. Understanding the context of the joke is imperative to its success, as context always shapes overall meaning (content). Not recognizing this has the potential for joke recipients to feel insulted and excluded thereby negating the power of humor itself. Nonetheless, Munder indicates the most intelligent and successful use of humor is to remain subversive, “not inciting revolutions, but incurring subtle incremental changes instead.” Self-persiflage humor (self-questioning/self-mockery), as Munder discusses, “draws its strength from its own vulnerability… not allowing fronts to strengthen… utilizing travesty to shine through the system and expand itself into liberated spaces.” The author goes on to highlight artists utilizing such motives such as Carolee Schneemann, Mary Beth Edison, Vito Acconci, and the Guerrilla Girls. Munder, Heike, “Humour: The Secret of Aesthetic Sublimation,” When Humour Becomes Painful, Migros Museum & JRP Ringier, Zurich, 2005, pp. 12-16. [3] A 2009 study by the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore revealed lightening up can protect against heart problems (no mention of painting), but do a quick google search like the one I did to help influence this statement, and you will find an array of articles and studies about the health benefits of displaying a sense of humor. Being able to laugh at your own follies is good for your heart, good for your capillaries, and it also promotes resilience which is helpful for stress relief. However, being able to laugh at yourself, to be self-deprecating or self-satirical will also yield search results about how it is detrimental to the perception others might have of you. Speaking to your mishaps and misfortunes albeit jokingly might help ease some of your stress and even get people to feel more comfortable around you, but apparently this behavior also makes others question your competency: you are nice and approachable, but won’t be able to get the job done. Fry, William F. and Miller, Michael, “The Effect of Mirthful Laughter on Human Cardiovascular System”. Medical Hypotheses, Volume 73, Issue 5. Elsevier Ltd., 2009, pp. 636-639 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2814549/] [4] A study on female stand-up comedians explores between self-deprecating humor as sabotage or strategy. Societal norms seem to posit men as innately humorous, where women have to prove they are funny. Early female comedians used a lot of self-deprecation. Putting themselves down deflected tension from the audience that there was a woman on stage taking control, doing man’s work, being aggressive and authoritative, masculine. The use of self-put downs by early female comics such as Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers lean more towards self-hatred. On the surface, their comedic approach looks to be more complicit of gender injustices than a critique of them despite their place centerstage implying otherwise. While these sorts of jokes indicate the comics’ own inadequacies, they help to form connections with the audience. Building a rapport helps lead the audience towards self-reflection, and then laughter subverts the authority these quote-unquote inadequacies stem from: “…tilting uncontrol against control…unofficial values over official ones.” As some societal norms shifted, self-mocking humor in a variety of nuanced ways were used to expose incongruities of culture from more hostile and unapologetic tactics of Roseanne Barr to more modest self-effacing modes of Paula Poundstone. In whichever strategy these female comics decide to employ, by telling jokes, these comedians are defining “femininity” and humor from their own vantage point. Russell, Danielle. “Self-deprecatory Humor and the Female Comic: Self-destruction or Comedic Construction?”. Thirdspace: A Journal of Feminist Theory & Culture. Volume 2, Issue 1. November 2002. [http://journals.sfu.ca/thirdspace/index.php/journal/article/viewArticle/d_russell/68] [5] Sigmund Freud notes a joke as something that is entirely subjective and tied to observation or a situation which evokes laughter. Recognizing the ability of the comic to illuminate our world is discussed here and he compiles a variety of philosophers’ thoughts to construct his points. It is necessary to bringing to light what is hidden by way of jokes and only the comic has the ability to uncover what is concealed. Joking is playing, and a “playful judgement” is the type of force needed to present clarity. He breaks it down into three parts: a contrast of ideas, sense in nonsense, bewilderment and illumination. The comic has the ability to find similarities in juxtapositions, can quickly unify alien facts, and then strategically produce an “ah-hah” moment to show truth. “Freedom produces jokes and jokes produce freedom.” Freud, Sigmund. “Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious (1905). The Artist’s Joke: Documents of Contemporary Art, edited by Jennifer Higgie, Whitechapel Gallery, London and The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2007, pp. 25-30. [6] In order to engage in this playful judgement, it seems important to relieve ourselves of (some) seriousness. What would happen if for a moment, we did not take ourselves and our art so serious? What would happen if we thought of our work as something frivolous? In an exert of Air Guitar, author Dave Hickey says it would give artists the opportunity to fail. If we can be bad and be silly, then we could stay not beholden to what he refers to as “constituencies”. Doing this would allow our work to be burdened by our own visual agendas instead of regulated to “sustain a visible commitment and socialization”. Instead of artists worrying about appeasing supporters and customers, committees and advisory boards, and even our own formulas or habits, we would allow our art to venture into “wrong-thinking”, and that might just end up being right. However, maybe this is easy for an old white guy to say, to not worry about the context surrounding the artwork and solely worry about the artwork itself. To be bad and to be silly, and to lose all inhibition while disregarding the work’s reception in light of unconscious biases and stereotypes is naïve and maybe even irresponsible. Hickey, Dave. “Frivolity and Unction”. Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy. Los Angeles, Art Issues Press, 1997. pp. 207-209.
