Feel like a laugh? The Church’s summer 2024 exhibition considers humor and contemporary art, focusing solely on the work of female-identifying artists. Conceived and organized by Chief Curator Sara Cochran, it features the work of 40 artists across all media installed across The Church’s Main Floor and the Mezzanine.  

The goals are two-fold. The first is to counter the tired stereotypes and clichés about women not being funny or able to take a joke. The second is to illustrate the different forms and topics of humor in contemporary art from artistic jokes, political outrages, bodily functions and appearances, cultural stereotypes, and sex and death, to the absurd and surreal, puns and slapstick as well as poking fun at sacred cows of art and its institutions.

For example, Katherine Bernhardt’s colorful and playful 2022 canvas Shark Attack takes on the traditions of paintings. Ignoring illusion, perspective, or scale, her paintings flatten any sense of hierarchy or relationship between its elements. A smattering of absurdly raucous images emerge: sharks, half-smoked cigarettes, donuts, a lost Croc, and a sad face juxtaposed with a reclining Pink Panther.

This exhibition gathers works that are satirical, serious, sweet, self-deprecating, ironic, mocking, strange, surreal, angry, subversive, and even gross. It takes art off its pedestal and puts the viewer in a position to laugh or shake their head.

Come and laugh along with us at the Church this summer.  It will be a riot.   

Artists in the exhibition include Eleanor Antin, Lynda Benglis, Katherine Bernhardt, Deborah Buck, Patty Chang, Pipi Deer, Rosalyn Drexler, Madeline Donahue, Nicole Eisenman, Pippa Garner, Carly Haffner, K8 Hardy, Nina Katchadourian, Sarah Lucas, Louise Lawler, Judith Linhares, Olivia Locher, Tala Madani, Gladys Nilsson, Joyce Pensato, Wendy Red Star, Heji Shin, Denise Silva-Dennis, Laurie Simmons, Alexis Smith, Tammi Smith, Claire Watson, and Almond Zigmund among others.  Full list to be announced in advance of the exhibition.