Toilet Humour Art! There are hardly things that bind humanity together as much as laughter, and if one talks about things that have been used to provoke laughter for a long time, the humble toilet seat would top the list.
Be it a schoolyard joke or a viral meme, Toilet humour has been a significant part of human culture over time. So, what happens when such humour gets into the fold of art? Chances are, we’ll end up with an art form that playfully mixes satire, wit and irreverence, all wrapped up in toilet humour. Toilet humour as an art form, though it sounds rude at first, often has layers of meaning, from social criticism to commentary on everyday absurdities.
In this blog, we’ll discuss what toilet humour art is, the history behind it, how it has been embraced by artists, and why it entertains audiences worldwide to this day.
Crazy I love Crap Print by Barrie J Davies
What is Toilet Humour Art?
Toilet humour art, or bathroom humour art, is a genre that amuses through themes of bathrooms and bodily functions, aiming to provoke a flight of fancy or achieve satirical purposes. It often draws on the novelty and taboo of these subjects, presenting them in a humorous fashion.
It’s a pure comedy art that not only makes people laugh but also challenges taboos and borders and remind the audiences that even in the most unglamorous features of human life, there is humour.
The Historical Roots of funny Toilet Art
Toilet humour is not a product of a modern civilization. Bodily functions were analysable from the first stage of human evolution.
Ancient Loo Graffiti
The presence of bathroom humour carved on the walls of Pompeii represents jokes made by the inhabitants during the period. These coarse doodles and inscriptions prove that toilet humor lived in the Roman Empire.
Medieval Manuscripts
In some illuminated manuscripts, playful marginalia depicts figures relieving themselves. These irreverent doodles beside solemn religious texts indicate that medieval scribes had a sense of humour.
Renaissance Toilet Satire
Paintings by artists such as Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, were clownish representations of everyday peasant life, often pledged along by the subject matter of flatulence or latrines erected outside. This was both humour and social comment.
Marcel Duchamp and the Birth of Modern Toilet Humour Art
In 1917, a French artist, Marcel Duchamp, submitted a urinal for an exhibition under the name of "R. Mutt." He titled it “Fountain.” Though immediately rejected, it became one of the most celebrated pieces of art the 20th century ever produced.
Duchamp wasn't merely being humorous in bringing a urinal into a gallery. By presenting an ordinary factory-made toilet fixture as art, Duchamp was questioning the artistic value of these objects. Fountain is the first piece in toilet humour artwork, where subjects pertaining to lavatory art hold genuine artistic merit while still maintaining wit.
Urinal Humour in Contemporary Art
To this day, artists around the world continue to use toilet humour as a fodder for laughter and ridicule.
Maurizio Cattelan’s Golden Toilet
In 2016, Cattelan presented America, an 18-karat gold toilet, with all plumbing facilities. Visitors of the Guggenheim Museum were invited to use it. The piece mocked wealth, excess, and the absurdity of luxury.
Banksy’s Toilet-Themed Satire
Banksy has made several artworks that lean toward bathroom humour, such as stencilled rats climbing out of toilets or urinals. The irony in his work serves to underline the decay of the city and the absurdities of humanity.
Toilet Pop Art and Bathroom Symbols
Using exaggerated proportions and colours, Claes Oldenburg and fellow Pop artists playfully reinterpreted everyday objects, toilets among them. The humor lay in exaggerating the ordinary into an extraordinary concept.
Cartoonists and Illustrators
From comic strips in newspapers to graphic novels, toilets have consistently been a recurring motif, with artists using them for visual punchlines, be it a superhero caught in the bathroom, or a dog guarding a roll of toilet paper.
Lavatory Humour Art in Street Culture
Toilet humour does best in city atmospheres. Street artists find public restrooms, stalls, and bathroom signs ideal for a bit of impish doodling. Irreverent cartoons, jokes, or satirical stencils adorn the bathroom walls in Brighton, London, Berlin, and New York.
Sometimes public installations pursue the comic angle:
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A public toilet that looks like an art gallery.
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Murals of giant toilet paper rollers spilling across a wall.
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Toilet sculptures placed in surprising sites like a park or rooftop.
Street artists thrive by allowing everyone to laugh at their taboos together in the public space.
Toilet Works in Art
Here are reasons why toilet humour art strikes such a huge chord in many ways:
Universality – Bathroom jokes are one great leveller of human beings everywhere: so said this art cross all cultural or social barriers.
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Breaking taboo – By touching on a topic usually avoided in polite conversation, toilet humour artwork pushes boundaries and feels transgressive.
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Relatability – It reminds us of the reality that even the most serious people have to deal with the everyday happenings in life.
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Playfulness – In an art world that often gets criticised as being pretentious, bathroom humour somehow keeps it light.
Humorous Toilet Art in Popular Culture
Public taste has transformed toilet humour into an art form:
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Film and Television – The bathroom humor has always been a kind of small visual gag in the comedies, from Monty Python to The Simpsons.
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Advertising – Occasionally, brands will use some lighthearted bathroom imagery to sell toilet paper, cleaning products, or even items with no real connection.
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Memes – Toilet artwork seems to have made its way into nearly every form of social art, from casual doodles to famous digital remixes such as the Mona Lisa holding a roll of toilet paper
The bottom line
Toilet humour art might not hold the sheen of glamour, but it scores highly on effectiveness. Be it from ancient graffiti through Duchamp's Fountain to Cattelan's golden toilet, artists have always adopted bathroom themes to provoke laughter, thought and questioning of norms amongst the audience. In bathrooms, galleries, or even across internet memes, Toilet humour art encourages us set aside our solemnity. In its most-effective condition, it transcends laughter and reasoning thereby framing the chaos, comedy, and deep human aspects of life.
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