Event Photos
Now in its fourth edition, That’s Funny invites artists and comedians to perform short sets of comedic material on a set designed by Bonanza as a celebration of comedy’s potential for posturing and resilience. With humor and satire informing much of the collective’s multi-disciplinary practice, That’s Funny began as an alternative to a traditional opening event for Bonanza’s dyke, ginger, Mexican show at Interface Gallery, Oakland in 2017. The collective has staged iterations of That’s Funny at the Walter McBean Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute and Gallery 16 in San Francisco.
That’s Funny is one of three events that examine the concept of performance as edition, curated by visual artist Jonn Herschend for What is an edition, anyway?. Encompassing literary, musical, and comedic practice, the events acknowledge performance’s implicit conundrum between poles of repetitive and unique actions. Original, limited-edition posters, designed by Herschend and THE THING Quarterly co-founder Will Rogan, are released at each event and installed in the gallery on the day of the performance.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Bonanza (est. 2012) is the collaborative practice of Conrad Guevara, Lindsay Tully, and Lana Williams. Their practice spans installation, film, performance, and fashion, often using their projects as a platform for invited collaborators. Bonanza’s work has been exhibited at the Buffalo Institute of Contemporary Art, New York; the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa; Gallery 16, San Francisco; Interface Gallery, Oakland; and Southern Exposure, San Francisco. Bonanza have produced several films which investigate various aspects of life and culture spurred by the technology industry in California, including their first film The Initiation, 2015; The Drought, 2016; and ThunderCoat, 2019. Bonanza were the 2018 Artists in Residence at the San Francisco Recology Center. They live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Jonn Herschend (b. 1967) is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and conceptual publisher. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; SITE Santa Fe; the Telluride Film Festival; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. He is a winner of the Fleishhacker Eureka Fellowship, three Golden Gate Awards from the SFFILM Festival, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art SECA Art Award. He is co-founder and co-editor, along with Will Rogan, of the experimental publication THE THING Quarterly. Herschend received his MFA from the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught at California College of the Arts, San Francisco State University, Stanford University, and UC Berkeley. He currently teaches at the San Francisco Art Institute. He lives and works in San Francisco, California.