Through Aug. 3
This inspired show is accompanied by a brochure that mimics the cover design of “October,” the left-leaning bible of art theory, and has a title to match. But the ideas therein are derived from the brothers Chico, Groucho, Gummo, Harpo and Zeppo.
Organized by Jacob and Jens Hoffmann, the exhibition is partly a sincere tribute; ample space is devoted to Marx Brothers films, photographs and ephemera. In the entrance corridor are two paintings by Harpo, including a charmingly folksy view of a bullring.
Also here, however, are wisecracking works by four contemporary artists and one modern one (Duchamp, naturally). Some of these figures, like Rodney Graham, are known as pranksters in their own right; others merely share a target with the Marxes, as is apparent when Jack Goldstein’s looped film of the MGM lion, “Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer” (1975), is screened opposite the classic bit in which Groucho, Chico and Harpo roar and squeak.
In Richard Prince’s painting series “You Bet Your Life,” mustaches, noses and eyebrows become floating compositional elements: Groucho glasses envisioned by Malevich, perhaps. They’re joined by Duchamp’s well-known Mona Lisa with a mustache, “L.H.O.O.Q.,” which in this context looks more goofy than ribald.
The youngest artist here, Tim Lee, made a two-monitor video installation
specifically for the show. Based on the mirror scene
in “Duck Soup,” it shows Mr. Lee mimicking his own movements from one screen to
another and is a wonderfully subtle bit of slapstick. It reminds you that humor
is an underrated ingredient in Conceptual art, as does a quote from Groucho
that’s stenciled on the gallery wall: “If any form of pleasure is exhibited,
report to me, and it will be prohibited.”
Next week try a painting of the Marx Brothers or Uncle Karl. See you then, john.
