This cross-disciplinary book situated on the periphery of culture employs humour to better comprehend the arts the outsider and exclusion illuminating the ever-changing social landscape the vagaries of taste and limits of political correctness. Each chapter deals with specific themes and approaches – from the construct of outsider and complexity of humour to Outsider Art and spaces – using various theoretical and analytical methods. Paul Clements draws on humour especially from visual arts and culture (and to a lesser extent literature film music and performance) as a tool of ridicule amongst other discourses employed by the powerful but also as a weapon to satirize them. These ambiguous representations vary depending on context often assimilated then reinterpreted in a game of authenticity that is poignant in a world of facsimile and 'fake news'. The humour styles of a range of artists are highlighted to reveal the fluidity and diversity of meaning which challenges expectations and at its best offers resistance and crucially a voice for the marginal. This book will be of particular interest to scholars in art history cultural studies fine art humour studies and visual culture. |The Outsider Art and Humour | Visual Studies