Comic Relief

“I don’t try to be funny,” artist John Baldessari once remarked, adding, “I feel the world is a little bit absurd and off-kilter, and I’m sort of reporting.”

Who better than an artist to find the humor in these very off-kilter times? This eclectic collection of articles and videos highlights half a dozen artists doing their own versions of reporting on the absurd, from Lindsey White’s explorations of stand-up comedy to a deep-dive into “YouTube Face” on SFMOMA’s online magazine Open Space. Enjoy — and if you’re in need of a laugh, we hope you find it here.

A man with white hair and a beard stands behind a table in front of a wall hung with works on paper
Open Studio
List of Ideas: Fourteen disparate assignments
A black and white photograph of a man wearing a headlamp holding up a piece of paper on which text and lines are being projected
Open Studio
Micro-Performances: Upending the ordinary
A couple sits on a window bench listening together and pointing
Recent Browser History
Photographer Catherine Opie in her studio, surrounded by soft-focus landscape photos
Offsite
Artists Heart San Francisco: Catherine Opie
Artist Lindsey White smiling next to a glove on a stick with smiley faces drawn on the fingers
watch
Lindsey White: How humor threatens us
watch
John Baldessari sings Sol LeWitt
watch
Where did all the art go? Jonn Herschend and stories of the SFMOMA evacuation
Offsite
Who’s the Wise Guy Touring You Around SFMOMA?
Your Pretty Face is Going to Sell
How to Make Books and Alienate People: A Teleplay by Colpa Press
New Routine: A San Francisco Tragicomedy
Artwork image, Roy De Forest Country Dog Gentlemen
Discussion Questions
Country Dog Gentlemen
Artwork image, ​Robert Arneson, California Artist
Discussion Questions
California Artist
watch
Robert Arneson’s portraits have nothing to do with ego