You can think of The simpsons as one of the funniest, most influential, and most irreverent anime series of all time, and you wouldn’t be wrong. What you might not know is that the show’s writers have often probed the art world, and their insights remain incisive.
Fans gathered this spring at the Eva Presenhuber Gallery in New York for a screening of art-themed episodes, hosted by New York curator/writer Lola Kramer and Oskar Weiss of Basel gallery Weiss Falk. The event featured a delightful match between content and venue.
Created by cartoonist Matt Groening and broadcast since 1989, The simpsons is both the longest-running American animated series and the longest-running American sitcom, and concludes its 34th season this spring.
“The simpsons are important because it’s about art imitating life,” Kramer said in an email. “And the episodes that Oskar and I have selected are about art imitating life imitating art.
“The show feels important to me because I recognize it as a sophisticated use of satire,” she added. “Why is satire important? Look for it!”
Four of the exhibition’s observations about the art world remain relevant today.
Tastes change faster than Homer can build a barbecue
In arguably the best art-themed episode, “Mom and Pop Art” (1999), Homer tries to build a backyard barbecue but ends up with a deranged sculpture. Local art dealer Astrid Weller (Isabella Rossellini) calls Homer a foreign artist and shows the piece, which sells to wealthy Mr. Burns.
“My first sale! In your face, Jasper Johns! Homer gave the artist a shoutout (in a guest appearance).
But when the pieces of his first solo echo his first work, the public is indifferent. Said a confused Homer, “You weirdos like that stuff!” But the taste is fickle, because multiple artists and collectors learn today.
You can’t have just a little free speech
Freedom of expression is the champion of “Itchy & Scratchy Marge” (1990). When little Maggie attacks Homer after watching too many violent “Itchy & Scratchy” cartoons, Marge succeeds in a crusade to cancel the show.
But fellow censors go too far when they want to cancel Michelangelo’s Springfield appearance David. One said: “It depicts parts of the human body which, however practical, are bad.”
Marge realizes that you can’t censor the art you hate, because other people will censor the art you love.
The episode aired a few years after Tipper Gore was made a federal matter off risky lyrics in rock music, but censorship remains a burning issue today, even When it comes to David.
“It was even more timely, and laughable, and a little unnerving, when I saw the title ‘Florida Principal Out After Viewing Of Michelangelo’s David Upsets Parents’ pop up the same week we did the screening,” Kramer said. .
Fame and price too often dictate the conversation
Leave it to the Simpsons to let a fraud deliver the deepest wisdom in “The War of Art” (2014).
After the Simpsons buy a painting at a friend’s garage sale, they find the signature of “prolific early 20th-century naturalist” Johan Oldenveldt, and Gavelby’s auction house values it at $100,000. The city is divided: should the profits be shared?
But when Homer and Lisa investigate where the landscape came from, they find the real painter, Klaus Ziegler (Max von Sydow). “Forging is such a cruel word,” he said. ” I am a art forger.”
When Lisa accuses Ziegler of deception, he turns the tables: “You only cared about this painting when you thought it was created by someone famous.” The episode aired amid one of the biggest fakery scandals in history, which led to the disappearance of Knoedler & Company of New York in 2011.
The market quickly absorbs the rebellion
Bart becomes a street performer in “Exit Through the Kwik-E-Mart” (2012), mocking Homer with Shepard Fairey/Obama-style “dope” stencils featuring his father’s face. Police Chief Wiggam throws out pun after delightful artistic pun, calling the boy Prank Lloyd Wright and Spray Can-dy Warhol.
But the real genius comes when Fairey, in a guest appearance, points out that “urban vandalism is now the hottest art form” and offers Bart a gallery show. (Several Banksy unauthorized exhibits And jagged auctions witness to this.) When Bart wonders skeptically how it can be street art if it’s in a gallery, Fairey yells at him, “Street art isn’t about questioning authority!”
Underscoring the irony, Fairey turns out to be an undercover cop. After all, he points out, he spent years sticking up signs that read “Obey.”
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