COPYRIGHT AND USE OF THIS THESIS This thesis must be used in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Reproduction of material protected by copyright may be an infringement of copyright and copyright owners may be entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits an authorized officer of a university library or archives to provide a copy (by communication or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in the library or archives, to a person who satisfies the authorized officer that he or she requires the reproduction for the purposes of research or study. The Copyright Act grants the creator of a work a number of moral rights, specifically the right of attribution, the right against false attribution and the right of integrity. You may infringe the author’s moral rights if you: - fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if you quote sections from the work - attribute this thesis to another author - subject this thesis to derogatory treatment which may prejudice the author’s reputation For further information contact the University’s Director of Copyright Services sydney.edu.au/copyright Foam Rainbow Where humour, disgust and failure mingle in contemporary art by Jane Polkinghorne A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. 2016 ii Acknowledgements The biggest thank you to my supervisor Jacqueline Millner for her sage words and excellent advice as well as support and friendship and many other things too numerous to list here. Sarah Newall for everything and being amazing in every way. She has now made it through two doctorates! Many thanks to Helen Hyatt-Johnston for decades of The Twilight Girls collaboration and for her final read. A special thanks goes to Barbara Campbell for listening, discussing and suggesting so thoughtfully and frequently throughout the PhD years. Big thanks to the Tending folks and gardens at SCA. Growing stuff was an excellent and fruitful distraction from studying. Thanks to everyone in the Contemporary Art and Feminism research cluster for focus, context and community. Thank you to the Karaoke Queens. Periodically shouting myself hoarse in your company over the last four years has been fun, therapeutic and educational. I thank my family for instilling the necessity of humour in all things, especially the inappropriate ones. And lastly, in memory of my father, Anthony “Bammy” Polkinghorne, who was there at the start, but not at the end. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................... iii List of illustrations .......................................................................................... vi Abstract .......................................................................................................... x Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1. Humour (a not so funny analysis) .......................................................... 15 What is it? ......................................................................................................... 15 The work of humour ......................................................................................... 19 Critical laughter ............................................................................................... 24 Humour, gender and sexuality ....................................................................... 30 Funny art ........................................................................................................... 39 Laughter at work ............................................................................................. 49 No punch line ................................................................................................... 50 2. Discussing the Disgusting ....................................................................... 52 What is disgust? ................................................................................................ 57 The allure of disgust ......................................................................................... 60 Humour and disgust ........................................................................................ 64 Disgust, gender and sexuality ........................................................................ 67 Disgust and aesthetics .................................................................................... 70 Violence, beauty and disgust ........................................................................ 76 Disgusting art .................................................................................................... 81 Critical disgust .................................................................................................. 83 3. Styled Failings .......................................................................................... 86 Failing to perform ............................................................................................. 87 What then is failure? ........................................................................................ 89 Failure and art .................................................................................................. 93 Gender fails .................................................................................................... 101 Failure and the cinematic ............................................................................ 107 Failing femininity ............................................................................................ 112 Failure and humour ....................................................................................... 115 Future failure ................................................................................................... 117 4. The Foul and the Funny ......................................................................... 118 Works that ‘work’ ........................................................................................... 120 iv 5. Ideal Failure ........................................................................................... 131 In the beginning was… failure ..................................................................... 132 Photographic/cinematic .............................................................................. 134 Video/Art ........................................................................................................ 147 Performance/Parody .................................................................................... 152 In the end ....................................................................................................... 165 Foaming Thresholds .................................................................................. 167 Bibliography .............................................................................................. 171 v List of illustrations Jane Polkinghorne, Foam Rainbow, 2012. Video sculpture ................................ ii Figure 1: Pink Flamingos, 1972. Directed by John Waters. Starring Divine ........ 2 Figure 2: Jane Polkinghorne, Self Portrait (Bikini line), 2012. Digital image ....... 5 Figure 3: Jane Polkinghorne, Destiny, 1991. Video animation ............................ 7 Figure 4: Jane Polkinghorne, Destiny, 1991. Video animation ............................ 7 Figure 5: Jane Polkinghorne and Helen Hyatt-Johnston, Vroom, 1990. Gelatine, food colouring, wood, glass, wire. 2m l x 1.7m h x .85cm w ............. 8 Figure 6: The Good, The Bad, The Chubby, 1995. Written, directed, produced by Jane Polkinghorne and Anthony Polkinghorne, 3min, B&W16mm film Production still .......................................................................................................... 9 Figure 7: Tony Abbott ate a raw onion. Source: ABC News ............................. 25 Figure 8: Pauline Pantsdown, “I Don’t Like it.” Video still https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SxFc37h6js ........................................... 28 Figure 9: Jane Polkinghorne and The Motel Sisters, The Howard Years, 2007. #4 from series of 6 photographs .......................................................................... 30 Figure 10: Bridget Everett, The Broadway Blog. Photo: Kevin Yatarola https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/rock_bottom-3.jpg ............... 34 Figure 11: Marleen Gorris, A Question of Silence (De Stile Rond Christine M.), The Netherlands, 1982, 92 mins ............................................................................ 36 Figure 12: Amy Schumer, “Milk, Milk, Lemonade”, video stills, Inside Amy Schumer, Season 3, episode 1, 2015. https://vimeo.com/132024195 ............. 38 Figure 13: Paul McCarthy, Painter, 1995, video tape, performance, and installation in Los Angeles with Brian Butler, Sabina Hornig, Paul McCarthy, Fredrik Nilsen, and Barbara Smith. Collection of the Rubell Family, Miami, Florida © Paul McCarthy Courtesy Hauser & Wirth, Zürich London .................. 42 Figure 14: Centrefold by Lynda Benglis. Originally published in Artforum November 1974. Photo: Arthur Gordon Image: Courtesy the artist and Cheim & Read, New York .................................................................................................. 43 Figure 15: Robert Morris. Advertisement for Castelli-Sonnabend exhibition, April 6-27, 1974 .......................................................................................................