From Tom Friedman's eraser shavings to Rob de Mar's minuscule waterfall to Adia Millett's tabletop dollhouses, intimately scaled sculptures are making a large impact.
It used to be simple: wet paint on a flat surface. No more. Today painting can include photography, digital prints, sculpture, and a host of other materials—but not necessarily paint.
Artists are finding inspiration in gags, slapstick, clowns, comics, and stand-up comedy. The results are sometimes satirical, sometimes ludicrous, and sometimes ‘so funny you could cry’.
With male nudes in full display, pornography a common source material, and explicit imagery the norm in galleries and museums, sex in art has become fun, disturbing, raunchy—even cerebral.
Role-playing is rampant today, with artists picturing themselves as impersonators, cross-dressers, evil twins, and exhibitionists—all to throw traditional ideas about identity up for grabs .