“Humor in Art” Delivers the First Punch at RIT's Gallery r

Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?

-James Thurber

If there's off-the-wall humor, surely there's on-the-wall absurdity. And Gallery r is the place to find both with its season debut, “Humor in Art Exhibition.” The show runs from Oct. 7 through Nov. 6, with an opening reception scheduled from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 15.

It's no joke that Rochester Institute of Technology's student-run gallery will feature a fine art student competition focusing on the ludicrous, the surreal, the farcical, the illogical and the ridiculous.

Zerbe Sodervick, gallery coordinator and director of extended studies at RIT, believes humor in art is a challenging concept because it “demands right brain artists to ingeniously use left brain reasoning.”

“Verbal humor hones on the pauses, the delivery and the punch line,” Sodervick explains, “but artists—like a cartoonist for example—sequence their ideas, building to the last drawing cell that delivers the punch.”

Judging the humorous visions of students-competing in arts and crafts, design, film, illustration and photography-are RIT faculty members, cartoonist Bill Jankowski, printmaker David Jay Reed, and advertising photography chair, Denis Defibaugh.

Gallery r, located at 775 Park Ave., is handicapped accessible and offers free admission. Regular gallery hours are Thursday to Sunday, 3 to 7 p.m.