Shanghai Gallery of Art

It’s paradoxical that as the world becomes increasingly ‘civilized’, technologically advanced and media savvy, global culture increasingly veers towards the inane. DAFT showcases examples of ‘idiot tendencies’ in contemporary art and asks what our fascination with infantile humor, disgusting behavior and irrationality says about our world today. Popular culture is rife with extreme forays into the ridiculous, from the Jack Ass movie trilogy, to exhibitionist game shows, to reality television and the pervasiveness of pornography. These lowbrow mediums often corrupt social behavior, and the fiction that they portray inadvertently warps our reality. Yet, it seems this is only half the story. Daily observations and outrageous news reports testify that today’s society is increasingly absurd, and that our fiction and reality often mirror one another.   

Contemporary artists around the world have reflected this condition by celebrating, critiquing and utilizing sophomoric attributes in their work. Many of the pieces presented in this exhibition refute any pretense that we live in a ‘civilized’ society. Instead these works posit critiques of contemporary culture and our often nonsensical human state. Other works offer a glimpse at raw, human expression, unfettered by the intellect, social mores and civil conditioning reminding us that beneath the layers of our own façade that we are corporeal animals excitable by simple prodding.