The Diverse Art of Comedy

The Diverse Art of Comedy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

As part of his show, A Bit of What He's Got, in the 2009 NZ International Comedy Festival, comedian and social entrepreneur Philip Patston has launched the Diverse Perspectives Portrait Project (D3P) to explore the interaction of attitude and perception using portraiture. Unitec Fine Arts students have contributed over a dozen portraits of the gay, disabled comic informed by different attitudes, which will be hung in the foyer of the Herald Theatre today.
“The works show how different attitudes projected by the subject impact on the perspectives of the artists,” says Patston, “proving that diversity is not only in the eye of the beholder, but also in the eye of the person being beheld.”

Patston posed using what he believes are a number of commonly held attitudes about marginalised people, that he calls the four T’s – trauma, tragedy, tricky (difficult), and triumphant.

But Patston has thrown in a fifth T: a less common but truer perception that he calls tree-like.

“Most people who don’t know me wouldn’t see me as grounded, strong and resilient, but in fact I think I am, more so than most,” he says.

“This is a direct result of having to be tough, pragmatic and well-organised in my day-to-day life, in order to achieve what I have, while managing the ill-informed perceptions of others. I think a lot of disabled people, single parents, gays, lesbians, transgender and other marginalised people exhibit tree-like qualities.”

At a photo shoot on Saturday 18 May at Unitec, students were assigned an attitude/perception and had ten days to complete the portraits, which will contribute to their coursework.

Patston says he's overwhelmed with the results. "It couldn't have worked better as far as I'm concerned. The students produced some amazing work, learned about the human condition, and had a laugh in the process." 

He is also recognised internationally as a creative and social entrepreneur. In 2006 he was one of Warehouse mogul Stephen Tindall’s “first 15“ social innovators picked to serve a three year stint on the NZ Social Entrepreneur Fellowship. “I wanted to experiment with an innovatiive mix of content and format, adding diversity and perspective to NZ comedy,” Patston explains. “After a few years of focussing on my social and creative entrepreneur roles, this is a return to my comedy routes with a bit of a twist.”

The D3P exhibition can be viewed in the foyers of the venues of Patston’s shows in Auckland (The Herald Theatre 2-9 May) and Wellington (The Fringe Bar 20-23 May). They will also be displayed on the website, Creative Momentum, which promotes creative diversity.

ENDS

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