Double Act: Art and Comedy

Published on the occasion of the twin exhibition Double Act: Art and Comedy at Bluecoat, Liverpool, 9 April – 19 June 2016 and at MAC, Belfast, 6 May – 31 July 2016. Double Act: Art and Comedy (Book) Published by Bluecoat, distributed by Cornerhouse Publications, published May 2016. The joke always has a healthy disrespect for structures and categories and when allied with art, can become a very unruly and volatile impulse. This book seeks to map out and interpret some of art’s great comedic moments. Double Act: Art and Comedy draws together artists from diverse cultural and political contexts, each sharing an interest in humour as a resource to animate their art practice and to connect with an audience.With 67 colour and 12 b&w illustrations, this 120 pages book provides a lively, original and humorous discussion of comic artworks by both established and emerging artists. Exploring key comedic strategies employed by contemporary artists in their work, chapter headings reflect thematic focus, and include: Comic Inversion, The Everyday, Irony, Wit, Deadpan, Mockery, The Carnivalesque, Slapstick, Falling, Falling Short. The book, provides a lively, original and humorous discussion of comic artworks by both established and emerging artists, including Paul McCarthy, Pilvi Takala, BANK, Keith Coventry, David Sherry, Olav Westphalen, Jonathan Monk, Michael Smith, John Smith, Adrian Paci, Thomas Geiger, Erica Eyres, Sarah Lucas, Jo Spence, Gemma Marmalade, Richard Wentworth, Julian Rosefeldt, Peter Finnemore, Peter Land, Mel Brimfield, Common Culture, Maurice Doherty, Erwin Wurm, Richard Prince, Bruce Nauman, Bill Woodrow, Richard Hughes, Bas Jan Ader, Kara Hearn, Joachim Schmid, Alex Bag and Cory Arcangel.