Arena 1 is pleased to present Masters of Irreverence a group exhibition, curated by Allen Tombello, which gathers the work of thirteen painters, sculptors and video artists in an examination of the parallels between the creation of art and humor. The artists embrace their joy in antic making, and collectively their strategic “irreverence” breathes life into old forms, provides an emollient for social tension and offers the most rare of qualities, enjoyment. Together they make a strong case for humor as a cognitive clean-up – “evolutionarily speaking, the brain’s method for debugging itself.”
John Baldessari
Joshua Callaghan
Gary Cannone
Erin Cosgrove
Alice Könitz
Kristi Lippire
Amy Sampson and Jean Robison
Amy Sarkisian
Kim Schoen
Holly Topping
Hennessy Youngman