More About Does This Taste Funny? A Two-Venue Group Exhibition Showcasing 40 Contemporary Artists
The Gallery at Heimbold Visual Arts Center and Lehman College Art Gallery present Does This Taste Funny?, a sweeping two-venue group exhibition showcasing the work of 40 contemporary artists. Opening in September 2026, the exhibition marks a collaboration between Sarah Lawrence College, where co-curator John O'Connor is faculty in the Visual and Studio Arts Program, and Lehman College, CUNY, where co-curator Melissa Brown teaches in the Department of Art.
Does This Taste Funny? explores humor in contemporary art as a generative method for shifting perception. While humor in art is often mistaken for a lack of seriousness, other fields treat laughter as anything but trivial: developmental psychologists read early laughter as evidence of a mind forming expectations about the world, political theory recognizes the joke as a tool of dissent, and linguists study the punchline as a window into how meaning is built.
The exhibition will be on view at The Gallery at Heimbold Visual Arts Center from September 8 – December 13, 2026.
Where:
The Gallery at Heimbold Visual Arts Center
Sarah Lawrence College
1 Mead Way
Bronxville, NY 10708
More Information: The participating artists actively embrace humor to disarm viewers and bypass intellectual defenses. The curators have organized these artistic strategies into six distinct thematic groupings, demonstrating how artists wield specific comedic styles to their advantage. Artists leverage The Body through slapstick and physical comedy to provoke visceral empathy, and they lean into Material Absurdity to highlight the irrationality of daily life. They deploy Politics via satire and dark humor as a weapon to undermine authority, while utilizing Language through wordplay and puns to reveal how meaning is constructed and deconstructed. Finally, they turn a critical eye inward with Art Humor, poking fun at opaque institutional conventions through parody, spoof, and sharp observation, and they explore Technology through deadpan delivery and the uncanny to critique our increasingly digital existence.
By utilizing these strategies, the exhibition frames humor as a method to evade our preconceptions about the world, exposing incongruities in our political, personal, and institutional lives. Throughout the show and its connected programming, the artwork serves as a catalyst for a dialogue that reaches across psychology, politics, the art world, philosophy, language, and comedy itself.
About Sarah Lawrence College: Founded in 1926, Sarah Lawrence is a prestigious, coeducational liberal arts college that consistently ranks among the leading liberal arts colleges in the country. Sarah Lawrence is known for its pioneering approach to education, rich history of impassioned intellectual and civic engagement, and vibrant, successful alumni. In close proximity to the unparalleled offerings of New York City, the historic campus is home to an intellectually curious and diverse community.
Does This Taste Funny? explores humor in contemporary art as a generative method for shifting perception. While humor in art is often mistaken for a lack of seriousness, other fields treat laughter as anything but trivial: developmental psychologists read early laughter as evidence of a mind forming expectations about the world, political theory recognizes the joke as a tool of dissent, and linguists study the punchline as a window into how meaning is built.
The exhibition will be on view at The Gallery at Heimbold Visual Arts Center from September 8 – December 13, 2026.
Where:
The Gallery at Heimbold Visual Arts Center
Sarah Lawrence College
1 Mead Way
Bronxville, NY 10708
More Information: The participating artists actively embrace humor to disarm viewers and bypass intellectual defenses. The curators have organized these artistic strategies into six distinct thematic groupings, demonstrating how artists wield specific comedic styles to their advantage. Artists leverage The Body through slapstick and physical comedy to provoke visceral empathy, and they lean into Material Absurdity to highlight the irrationality of daily life. They deploy Politics via satire and dark humor as a weapon to undermine authority, while utilizing Language through wordplay and puns to reveal how meaning is constructed and deconstructed. Finally, they turn a critical eye inward with Art Humor, poking fun at opaque institutional conventions through parody, spoof, and sharp observation, and they explore Technology through deadpan delivery and the uncanny to critique our increasingly digital existence.
By utilizing these strategies, the exhibition frames humor as a method to evade our preconceptions about the world, exposing incongruities in our political, personal, and institutional lives. Throughout the show and its connected programming, the artwork serves as a catalyst for a dialogue that reaches across psychology, politics, the art world, philosophy, language, and comedy itself.
About Sarah Lawrence College: Founded in 1926, Sarah Lawrence is a prestigious, coeducational liberal arts college that consistently ranks among the leading liberal arts colleges in the country. Sarah Lawrence is known for its pioneering approach to education, rich history of impassioned intellectual and civic engagement, and vibrant, successful alumni. In close proximity to the unparalleled offerings of New York City, the historic campus is home to an intellectually curious and diverse community.
Date & Time
September 8, 2026
5:00pm - 8:00pm
Location
The Gallery at Heimbold Visual Arts Center at Sarah Lawrence College
1 Mead Way
Bronxville, NY 10708
Contact Info
Kayleigh Lentz
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