Art to make one Smile

I love a sense of humor in anyone, but I really appreciate it in artists.  There’s so  much that’s precious and pedantic in art and the study of art history that it’s a relief to come across an artist with his/her tongue quietly in his/her cheek.

Steampunk is fertile ground for clever humor, with its combination of Victorian imagery with techno sensibility.  The SteamSmith has a really interesting shop on 1000Markets.  This airship is one of my favorite of his pieces, but be sure to also have a look at his Time Traveling Moose.  The craftsmanship is wonderful, even if the idea is whimsical.

I’ve been a fan of Madelyn Smoak since seeing her crown collection at the Durham Art Guild a year or so ago.  I am always mesmerized by her flawless craftsmanship and her intelligent humor. Madelyn’s a great one for seeing ironic possibilities in her fine jewelry work, as in this cuff called Man’s Time Awry.

  

Sometimes my friend Brett of Van Fleet Street Design cracks me up with the titles she gives her drawings and paintings.   I Go out Walkin, After Midnight is a print in her series honoring El Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.   Somehow I get this image of this beautiful skeleton doing the Texas two-step with Patsy Cline.