‘I read something by the Nobel Prize-winning writer, Herta Müller, where she said humour is the white trampoline in a dark corner – and I really liked that,’ says curator Nana Bahlmann, who has been considering what makes something funny for new exhibition, ‘Seriously’, at London’s Sprüth Magers. ‘Previously, I had been approached by the gallery to do a show on conceptual photography – I thought it would be quite dry, but when I started looking into it, I found that there’s so much more humour and wit in the work. The show grew from that.’
Bahlmann criss-crosses mediums in a far-reaching dive into humour, including photography, film, print media and audio, embracing everything from the slapstick to the witty, observant, subversive and naughty.
John Baldessari, Portrait: Artist’s Identity Hidden with Name/Date Cards (4 MR. 74), 1974
(Image credit: © John Baldessari 1974. Courtesy Estate of John Baldessari © 2025. Courtesy John Baldessari Family Foundation; Sprüth Magers)
Helen Chadwick, In the Kitchen (Washing Machine), 1977
(Image credit: Copyright Helen Chadwick. Courtesy Richard Saltoun Gallery, London, Rome & New York)
‘It’s not purely conceptual,’ says Bahlmann. ‘There is a lot of work from the late 1960s and early 1970s, up to work from 2025. There is a lot of visual wit throughout, which you can need in order to get a message across. So there’s 1970s feminist art, for example, which plays with that, because how else do you get the attention? There’s a lot of cross-references between artists in the show as well, which is quite funny.’
Artists citing and parodying each other throughout add a sly edge to the enjoyably vast curation. There are Peter Fischli and David Weiss works rephotographed by Thomas Ruff; Jonathan Monk referencing Louise Lawler and artist duo Bernd and Hilla Becher; while Cindy Sherman, Thomas Demand, and Andreas Gursky all appear with their own work or through the lens of someone else’s.
Andreas Gursky, Desk Attendants, Provinzial, Düsseldorf, 1982
(Image credit: © Andreas Gursky / DACS, 2025 Courtesy Sprüth Magers.)
Keith Arnatt, Self-Burial, 1969
(Image credit: © Keith Arnatt Estate. Courtesy of the Keith Arnatt Estate and Sprüth Magers. Photo: Stephen White, 2018)
Wit may be famously subjective, but in such a big collection, it would be hard not to find something to smile about. ‘On one floor there is the role of the artist, and a play on identity role play,’ says Bahlmann. ‘On another, we’re looking at the body and landscape, or the body in relation to objects.’ It leads to a dissection of object humour, and a reframing of the mundane world we know through sharp satire and gentler mimicry. ‘I’ve made a lot of discoveries of artists I like through working on this exhibition,’ she adds. ‘I’ve had enormous fun.’
‘Seriously’ at Sprüth Magers, London until 31 January 2026, spruethmagers.com
Laurie Simmons, Walking Glove, 1991
(Image credit: Courtesy of the artist)
Keith Arnatt, Dog Toy, 1992
(Image credit: © Keith Arnatt Estate. Courtesy of the Keith Arnatt Estate and Sprüth Magers)
Other Articles
No Comment! Be the first one.