Hide and Seek in the Arts

I would like to start off discussing something I feel many students aren't getting enough of in schools (yes, including SCAD): the censorship talk. *Yawn*. Which seems evident right? Censorship is bad and most of us know it. And while it may seem like this battle has been fought and won, a glance at some recent news will tell you otherwise. Seriously, this is something as artists we obviously need to talk about. Artistic expression does, however, fall under "freedom of speech" and by all means, artists should have access to it. And, by the way, if you consider yourself an artist, you should probably care about your rights.

Onto some recent news (local and national). Here are some of the issues showing up in current press:

Cinque Hicks, one of Atlanta's notorious art critics, wrote an excellent article discussing issues currently taking place in Atlanta and at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. As Cinque mentions, Georgia's new agriculture commisioner, Gary Black, plans to remove paintings that depict slavery and partially clothed Native Americans. Clearly these paintings are applicable to the history of our region and have been present within the Department of Agriculture for several years now. Not to mention, the guy doesn't seem to have too much of a grasp on the history of the pieces and fails to communicate exactly what he believes the paintings are about. As we all know, it's not easy to talk about slavery, the annihilation of Native Americans, and not to mention: nudity. Why talk about it at all, right? So, Gary Black is the new big guy working for our state now. Art history? Who needs it.

You can read Cinque's full story here here.

Another point mentioned in the article, which has fully permeated art news as of late, is the National Portrait Gallery's censorship of David Wojnarowicz's video piece, "A Fire in my Belly". Wojnarowicz is a gay artist that died from an AIDS-related death in the early 90's. His piece is a dedication to his lover, Peter Hujar (if you don't know his work, you should check it out, amazing photographer, also died from AIDS). The video depicts a crucifix with ants crawling on it which the Catholic League determined was "designed to insult and inflict injury and assault the sensibilities of Christians". The Catholics cried, the gallery bent: the piece was stripped from the show. But the public wasn't going down in silence. A protest was held by over 200 people chanting and marching down New York's 5th Avenue calling for restoration of the video. The National Portrait Gallery is part of the Smithsonian Institute which sets the standards for what will and will not go into art history books in the future. Now, maybe this is just my curiosity speaking, but I would like to know who is calling the shots here and why their opinion outweighs my opinion for what goes into the history books and what doesn't. I believe what I have to say is important and that my educated opinion matters. I also believe my artwork strives to exhibit my thoughts and interests and is therefore an element of my educated opinion. In my opinion, that is.

Watch "A Fire in my Belly" here, if you dare.

(Above image courtesy of artdaily.com)