Chris Gural<\/a> helped us judge this month\u2019s contest, which featured his drawing. It\u2019s set in a museum, where two fish are looking at paintings of lures. The fish on the left is speaking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nChris\u2019s original caption was a pun that alluded to the outrageous cost of collecting original art: <\/span>\u201cI bought this one. Now I\u2019m on the hook for twenty thousand.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nThis contest elicited many\u2014far too many\u2014obvious puns. There must have been close to a hundred that included the word \u201clure\u201d or \u201callure\u201d or \u201calluring.\u201d One submission even attempted to address both museums and fishing by making a joke about \u201cThe Lure-vre.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nNot all the wordplay was terrible. Some was quite or at least somewhat clever:\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n- \u201cHis art always takes me by surprise.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cI find these quite tasteless.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cBreathtaking.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cThis one really pulls you in.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cThis one really caught my eye.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cThis one caught my eye. And cheek.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We debated the relative merits of those last two entries, which make essentially the same joke. I prefer the longer version because it does a better job of reconciling the disparate frames of reference: museums and fishing. In museums, people talk about art they like by saying it catches their eye. And fish are caught when they try to swallow a lure that contains a hook that goes through their cheek, not their eye.<\/span><\/p>\nThe next two entries combine references to (1) critical comments about art, and (2) lures that attract fish by fluttering around and catching the light:<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n- \u201cAll flash, no substance.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cIt lacks movement.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The following two submissions are variations on the age-old and ultimately unanswerable question, \u201cBut is it art?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n- \u201cBait\u2026is it art?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cBut is it food?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
That first caption is clever\u2014both in the way it substitutes the word \u201cbait\u201d for the similar-sounding \u201cbut,\u201d and for the way it questions whether a fishing lure can ever be art\u2014but the second is brilliant. By substituting the word \u201cfood\u201d for \u201cart,\u201d it alludes not only to the question that causes so much debate in the art world but to the fact that fish confuse inedible and deadly lures for food. I love it.<\/span><\/p>\nHere’s the month\u2019s best reference to a mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci: <\/span>\u201cBehold: \u2018The Last Supper.\u2019\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nI like the way these entries suggest that artists are not the only ones who suffer for their art:<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n- \u201cGreat art is supposed to make you uncomfortable.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cAll great art requires some form of suffering.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I love, more than my fellow judges did, the way this caption alludes to a common description of under-appreciated artists while making the fish justifiably angry and vengeful: <\/span>\u201cI hope he died a starving artist.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nAny caption contest that features a drawing of fish will inevitably elicit one or more (many more) entries that allude to the common misconception that fish have short memories and attention spans. This contest was no exception: <\/span>\u201cI could gaze at it for seconds.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nChris Gural really liked the following two entries:<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n- \u201cIt\u2019s called \u2018Kitsch and Release.\u2019\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cThis one\u2019s had a lot of nibbles.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Both entries are good, but they\u2019re recycled captions. The first is almost identical to Nicole Chrolavicius\u2019s winning entry for the <\/span>New Yorker<\/span><\/i> contest that featured Paul Noth\u2019s drawing of Big Mouth Billy Bass (the tacky animatronic singing fish that\u2019s mounted on a plaque) addressing another fish in a lake: \u201c<\/span>They call it kitsch and release.<\/span><\/i>\u201d The second caption is very similar to Doug Finkelstein\u2019s winning entry for the <\/span>New Yorker<\/span><\/i> contest that featured Ed Himelblau\u2019s drawing of two scientists observing mice in a maze that\u2019s essentially a miniature art gallery: \u201c<\/span>Nothing has sold yet, but we\u2019ve gotten a few nibbles<\/span><\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nFrom 1984-85, I worked in the gift shop at The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., so I know museums generate much of their revenue from selling items (playing cards, jewelry, postcards) inspired by pieces of art from the permanent collection or travelling exhibits. Maybe that\u2019s why I really like this entry: <\/span>\u201cThink the gift shop sells these as earrings?\u201d<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBoth Bob Mankoff and Chris Gural liked this caption, which alludes to a tactic that both auctioneers and fisherman use to lure their prey: <\/span>\u201cI dropped out at 900 but the auctioneer gave it a jiggle.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nThe next three captions transform ordinary statements that one might overhear in a museum into fitting captions:<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n- \u201cIt does look bad when you take it out of context.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cFinally, something accessible.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cNothing I haven\u2019t seen before.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Here\u2019s the month\u2019s darkest joke: <\/span>\u201cThe artist is in a can in the breakroom if you\u2019d like to meet him.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nThis entry suggests the two fish live together in a small tank that includes at least one aerating ornament: <\/span>\u201cThis one will look great hanging next to our bubbling treasure chest.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nThe final three entries I\u2019m choosing to highlight make the fish who\u2019s speaking sound like a pompous ass:<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n- \u201cWhy would a reputable museum display such an obvious fake?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cOf course, the hook represents death.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cWe are left to imagine the worm.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Congratulations to BRANDON LAWNICZAK, of Mill Valley, California, who submitted this month\u2019s winning caption: <\/span>\u201cBut is it food?\u201d<\/i><\/b> Brandon is a talented caption writer who has won or been a finalist in <\/span>The New Yorker<\/span><\/i> Cartoon Caption Contest several times. I mention him on page 228 of my book on the contest, so you should buy a copy to see what I wrote about him. (Don\u2019t just pick up a copy in the bookstore, flip to page 228, and put it back down. Take the goddamn thing to the register and buy it.)<\/span><\/p>\nThe five runners-up for our contest are:<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n- \u201cI dropped out at 900 but the auctioneer gave it a jiggle.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cThink the gift shop sells these as earrings?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cThis one caught my eye. And cheek.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cIt lacks movement.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cBreathtaking.\u201d<\/i><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nWatch the Judging Process<\/h3>\n
If you want to see how we made our selections, we recorded the process with Chris and it’s below<\/p>\n
![\"CartoonStock](\"https:\/\/www.cartoonstock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/smallerfish-300x227.jpg\")
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