You ever hear of the Guggenhead Museum of Awfully Modern Art? Probably not so let me tell you about it…
Around 1967, two folks named Paul and Lee Anthony in Scottsdale, Arizona decided to open a funny art gallery — a satire on recent trends in art and also in art galleries. I'm not sure if either Anthony created any or all of the works but they put together a bevy of very silly paintings with humorous commentaries on the little cards mounted next to them on display. The "collection" got a lot of press and before long — like, the next year, I think — it was touring the country, mostly turning up in little tents in shopping malls.
In Los Angeles, it "played" for a time at a bank complex at Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights — a big community center affixed to a branch of Lytton Savings, built on the site of the famous apartment complex, the Garden of Allah. There's now a strip mall there with a McDonald's and a Pollo Loco and places like that. Later as I recall, the Guggenhead show moved over to Century City for a few months, and it apparently went all over the country. (I would gather they had many duplicates of the paintings, not just the one set.)
Created in proper deadpan style, it was quite funny if you got the jokes and I'm not sure everyone did. It also made a pretty strong, clear statement about how a lot of what was being hailed as art was probably rubbish…but hey, if it spoke to you, fine. I may have gotten more in terms of lasting imagery and things to think about from the Guggenhead than I did out of a lot of so-called real art shows I attended.
The Guggenhead no longer exists in the real world but I was pleased to find that some of its works are online. Take a stroll through the gallery when you get a minute. It doesn't have quite the impact when you're not looking at the works (most of which were three-dimensional) in person but you may get a chuckle or three.