Minnesota Art with a Twist

While art is serious business, it need not be somber. What we consider funny, what makes us laugh, is a subject for serious research. Through studio visits and conversations with artists over the past nine months, the Weisman Art Museum set out in search of art that summons a smile. The result is Minnesota Art with a Twist, featuring 26 Minnesota artists who approach their work with irony, wit, whimsy·or are just plain twisted. The exhibition is on view at the Weisman from July 21 through October 21, 2001.

The artists in Minnesota Art with a Twist represent a wide range of ages, media, and intentions. Some of them take an ironic approach to their work to produce highly effective communication about important social issues. Others simply create wonderful, whimsical, fantastical art that engages and delights viewers. And others make art that is surreal, verging on scary. The artists featured in the exhibition are: Guy Baldwin, Julie Buffalohead, Bruce Charlesworth, Cy DeCosse, Jim Denomie, Tom Egerman, Clea Felien, Jessie Fisher, Don Gahr, Herb Grika, Anthony Kulig, David Lefkowitz, Dean Lucker, Chris Mars, Donald Myhre, Judy Onofrio, Faye Passow, Karess Pastore, Gene Pittman, David Rathman, Scott Seekins, Margo Selski, Amy Toscani, AndrZe Tracey, Al Wadzinski, and Ann Wood.

Regional

Clearly much humor is culturally based, and some of the artwork in the exhibition is firmly rooted in the values of Americans in general and Minnesotans specifically. Gene Pittman's Pamlico makes an ironic statement about the prevalence of the culture of hunting and fishing in Minnesota. His pair of hip-height waders, familiar to every serious fisherman in the state, take on a life of their own as a fountain. These rubber waders don't keep water out, they keep it in, as the source of water to feed the fountain's basin.

To fully appreciate the humor in AndrZe Tracey's Aphrodite series requires knowledge of some Twin Cities institutions and the mystique of those places for young singles. In Tracey's paintings, Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, hangs out at a Starbucks coffee shop, at a Byerly's supermarket, and at an upscale urban launderette-all places where young singles might go to find love, or at least acceptable company for an evening.

Whimsical

Some artists seem to use wit with a sense of pure joy and fun rather than for any particular message. Their visual puns may make us laugh out loud. In Anthony Kulig's Our Time an imp-like figure seems to have drawn the long chalk mark on the wall out of the tip of his finger. Cy DeCosse's photographs of typewriters and packages make us confront a three-dimensional photograph and ask us to decide whether it is more or less real than a "real" photograph. His eggs take the illusion one step further. A photograph of dozens of eggs in a crate, backed with the familiar plastic bubble wrap and placed on the floor, pops with a noisy reality when we step on it. We know the eggs aren't real, but we find droll pleasure in something that fools both the eye and the ear.

Witty

An incongruous or witty use of materials can create humor. Judy Onofrio's life-sized acrobat in Ring of Fire jumps through flames created by painted tines of recycled forks. The incompatibility of the silly materials-a gourd, a feather, an old basket, and a balloon, all animated with a cheap wind-up mechanism-and the erotic title of Guy Baldwin's Foreplay makes us laugh. David Lefkowitz uses the style and presentation of the masters to elevate a familiar plastic twist tie to the level of a 17th-century Dutch still life.

Surreal

A strong strain of surrealism runs through some of the art and reminds us that humor and horror may be two sides of the same coin. Chris Mars's Uncle Bradley's Levitational Device recalls jokes about the eccentric mad scientist, humorous but also scary-Uncle Bradley is the kind of guy who gave the world Frankenstein! Margo Selski's carefully crafted chickens with human faces are at the same time surreal and smile provoking; they entice us to seek deeper meanings.

Ironic

An ironic sense of humor may convey serious social comment and criticism. Tom Egerman's seemingly crude wooden folk-like animated toys have an edge. Egerman's President Lyndon Johnson opens his jacket to show us the scar from his gall-bladder operation, as Johnson did in real life. But the scar, hidden from view most of the time, is a red gash in the shape of Vietnam.

Don Myhre's life-sized buffalo (a taxidermist's form) with a TV set insert topped by a fast-food drive-through window offers at first glance an amusing intrusion of the modern world onto a frontier icon. Closer inspection reveals a biting commentary on the condition of the Midwestern plains. Jim Denomie's and Julie Buffalohead's paintings include satiric references to the clashing of their American Indian culture and values with those of mainstream America.

A whimsical reference to other art underlies some work. David Lefkowitz paints a scenic overlook, familiar to everyone who has traveled the highways of the American West. But Lefkowitz's family is poised on the rim of a canyon overlooking a scene that is actually an abstract painting. Scott Seekins paints his own eccentric portrait as the late 19th-century Dutch artist, Vincent Van Gogh, who is as famous for cutting off his own ear as for his expressionistic portraits and landscapes.

Minnesota Art with a Twist could as easily be called art with a punchline, except that it is not a joke. The messages are serious. You just don't have to keep a straight face while you're thinking. With this exhibition the Weisman continues its tradition of summer exhibitions featuring Minnesota artists.

Minnesota Art with a Twist and related programming have been made possible by a generous grant from The American Express Minnesota Philanthropic Program.