The Outsider, Art and Humour

Clements, Paul. 2020. The Outsider, Art and Humour. New York/Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9780367468224 [Book]

No full text available

Abstract or Description

This cross-disciplinary book, situated on the periphery of culture, employs humour to better comprehend the arts, the outsider and exclusion, illuminating the ever-changing social landscape, the vagaries of taste and limits of political correctness.

Each chapter deals with specific themes and approaches – from the construct of outsider and complexity of humour, to Outsider Art and spaces – using various theoretical and analytical methods. Paul Clements draws on humour, especially from visual arts and culture (and to a lesser extent literature, film, music and performance), as a tool of ridicule, amongst other discourses, employed by the powerful but also as a weapon to satirize them. These ambiguous representations vary depending on context, often assimilated then reinterpreted in a game of authenticity that is poignant in a world of facsimile and ‘fake news’. The humour styles of a range of artists are highlighted to reveal the fluidity and diversity of meaning which challenges expectations and at its best offers resistance and, crucially, a voice for the marginal.

This book will be of particular interest to scholars in art history, cultural studies, fine art, humour studies and visual culture.

Item Type:

Book

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Institute for Cultural and Creative Entrepreneurship (ICCE)

Date:

7 May 2020

Item ID:

31830

Date Deposited:

12 May 2022 09:32

Last Modified:

16 May 2022 12:35

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/31830

Edit Record Edit Record (login required)