Examples of Laughter in Art

The exhibition will feature the following artists: academic painter and interdisciplinary artist Miha Vipotnik, comic book author Iztok Sitar, academic painter Silvester Plotajs Sicoe, academic painter Vladimir Leben, academic painter, philosopher and comic book author Izar Lunaček, academic painter Barbara Jurkovšek, graduated photographer Manca Juvan and photographer Matjaž Rušt.

Why, how, for what purpose and in what forms do images that we encounter in visual art make us laugh? Is the amusing and the funny immediately noticeable or do we have to uncover it gradually, probing and studying a work from different angles? And do these amusing images hide a deeper message, concealed by their apparent banality and lightness?  Are they expressions of a relaxed view of the world or are they, in fact, merely masks, hiding the authors' critical responses and emotional expressions? In what instances do amusing or funny images become nothing but shallow trivialities? The City Art Gallery Ljubljana's exhibition Examples of Laughter in Art will attempt to answer these questions by presenting different forms of laughter – from sophisticated to expressive, ironic, sarcastic and parodic, all the way to the grotesque, accompanied by in-depth critical reflections.  This vibrant selection of amusing images reflects the subjectivity of the individual artists and in its diversity, it continues in the footsteps of the City Art Gallery's 2012 exhibition Fragments of Happiness in Art. While the 2012 exhibition concerned itself with the ways in which happiness is expressed, the new exhibition deals with laughter, a continuation of existential states.  Laughter, like happiness, varies in intensity, energy and duration. In contemporary visual art it is often present in motivic-thematic elements and exhibitional-presentational systems.

Examples of Laughter in Art will feature artists of different generations, with widely varied personal poetics, who, in their work, deal more or less openly with themes, forms and variations on laughter. The participating artists are: academic painter and interdisciplinary creator Miha Vipotnik, comic book author Iztok Sitar, academic painter Silvester Plotajs Sicoe, painter Vladimir Leben, academic painter, doctor of philosophy and comic book author Izar Lunaček, academic painter Barbara Jurkovšek, photographer Manca Juvanand photographer Matjaž Rušt.

Examples of Laughter in Art

Examples of Laughter in Art features artists of different generations, with widely varied personal poetics, who, in their work, deal more or less openly with themes, forms and variations on ...