Edgar Arceneaux "The Alchemy of Comedy...Stupid" Opening at Gallery 400 March 15, 2006

March 14 - May 13, 2006
Opening Reception: Wednesday, March 15, 5 - 8 pm

Centered on a lushly colored, multi-channel video featuring wildly popular comedian David Alan Grier, The Alchemy of Comedy...Stupid examines the nuances and structures, rapture and pathos of jokes, comedy routines and the relationship between performer and audience. By destabilizing our familiarity with the joke and its context, Arceneaux reveals existing but rarely acknowledged possibilities for unique, coherent meaning created from non-linear logic. Intercut among the multiple screens are reconfigured video segments of Grier debuting poignantly difficult material, his interactions with audience members and awkward moments of anticipation or rumination. The video and a single-channel companion piece were shot in Chicago in May 2005 primarily on the UIC campus. They and accompanying works in drawing and sculpture are the culmination of Gallery 400's commission of the artist initiated in 2004.