Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Andreas Schalhorn

Kassandra Nakas

Ulrich Pfarr

As its point of departure Funny Cuts takes Pop Art's revolutionary referencing of comics and concludes with the most current trends in contemporary art. Here we see the diverse ways in which this art is in dialogue with the commercial and trivial picture worlds of comics and cartoons. In the 1960s Pop artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein broke new ground in their provocative confrontation with high and low art when they used motifs and references from popular comics. In the 1970s, American comics dealt with taboo subjects like sexuality and violence: for the first time, the subversive potential and the psychological content of comic worlds were used creatively in fine art. Within the context of the punk movement, Raymond Pettibon and Mike Kelley were inspired by comics, making wall-length drawings that used the narrative element of comics on the border between visual art and literature. And internationally today, artists still question political and social realities and their own identity through the mythological potential of comics and animations. Presented here are numerous images that visually demonstrate the various ways in which comics have become a form of high art.

Cartoons and Comics in Contemporary Art ; [exhibition at Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 4th December 2004-17th April 2005]

Funny Cuts

Jessica Ullrich

Artists and the public alike have always been fascinated by obscene imagery. The Obscene, however, is difficult to define. One of the earliest interpretations is of Greek origin and argues that the word derives from "ob skene", indicating the space behind the stage or scene. "Off-scene" remains what should be hidden from public view, be it morally questionable, offensive, disgusting or unbearable to look at. This book presents a collection of essays that cast light on some "Scene of the Obscene" in art and visual culture from the Middle Ages to today, taking into consideration the malleable nature of socio-cultural assumptions and theoretical reflections on the topic.The contributions focus on historically distinct artistic acts and social sites where established cultural categories and legal norms are violated, with artists and publishers deliberately breaking moral taboos and offending the public taste. They discuss how society reacted to these transregressions and how obscenity and its conceptions shape the face of their respective time.

Kassandra Nakas

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