Germany was becoming Fascist in 1930. Now, America is becoming Fascist.
eric davis
After displaying a painting of U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, a
San Francisco gallery owner bears a painful reminder of the nation's
unresolved anguish over the incidents at Abu Ghraib -- a black eye and
bloodied brow delivered by an unknown assailant who apparently objected to
the art work.
The assault outside the Capobianco gallery in the city's North Beach
district Thursday night was the worst, but only the latest in a string of
verbal and physical attacks that have been directed at owner Lori Haigh
since the painting, titled "Abuse," was installed there on May 16.
Last Wednesday, concerned for the safety of her two children, ages 14 and 4,
who often accompanied her to work, Haigh decided to close the gallery
indefinitely.
Painted by Berkeley artist Guy Colwell, "Abuse," the painting at the center
of the controversy, depicts three U.S. soldiers leering at a group of naked
men in hoods with wires connected to their bodies. The one in the foreground
has a blood-spattered American flag patch on his uniform. In the background,
a soldier in sunglasses guards a blindfolded woman.
The painting was part of a larger show of Colwell's work that mostly
featured pastel-colored abstracts.
Two days after the painting went up in a front window, someone threw eggs
and dumped trash on the doorstep. Haigh said she didn't think to connect it
to the black-and-white interpretation of the events at Baghdad's notorious
prison until people started leaving nasty messages and threats on her
business answering machine.
"I think you need to get your gallery out of this neighborhood before you
get hurt," one caller said.
Even after she removed the painting from the window, the criticism continued
thanks to news coverage about the gallery's troubles. The answering machine
recorded new calls from people accusing her of being a coward for taking the
picture down. Last weekend, a man walked into the gallery, pretended to
scrutinize the art work for a moment, then marched up to Haigh's desk and
spat directly in her face.
On Thursday, someone knocked on the door of the gallery, then punched Haigh
in the face when she stepped outside.
"This isn't art-politics central here at all," Haigh said. "I'm not here to
make a stand. I never set out to be a crusader or a political activist."
In closing the gallery, Haigh was forced to cancel an upcoming show
featuring counterculture artist Winston Smith. She covered the windows of
the gallery with old newspapers from Sept. 11, 2003 that included stories
about the war, a statement she insists was coincidental.
For Haigh, who opened Capobianco a year-and-a-half ago, having the chance to
work with prominent artists fulfilled a lifelong dream.
"I kept thinking someday I'll have enough of a reputation where I could
bring in my heroes of the art world, people like Guy Colwell especially,"
she said.
The irony of the attacks hasn't been lost on Haigh. Among the expressions of
support she's received since shuttering the gallery, her favorite is an
e-mail whose writer said, "I'm sure that a few and dangerous minds don't
understand that they have only mimicked the same perversity this painting
had expressed."
The abuse also has soured her on North Beach, the Italian-American
neighborhood that spawned the Beat Generation. Long considered a bastion of
free speech, it is also home to many old-time San Franciscans. Haigh
believes "it is the locals" who first took aim at her gallery since it's on
a mostly residential street and she hadn't advertised Cowell's show when the
threats started.
But others in the neighborhood have gone out of their way to offer
encouragement and sympathy, among them poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of
the famed City Lights bookstore. Outside the gallery on Friday, someone had
left a bouquet of flowers along with a note reading, "The woman who ran this
gallery is a brave and honorable woman. ... She is a true American and a
real patriot."
San Francisco police are investigating the incidents and have stepped up
patrols around the gallery while Haigh finishes closing up shop.
Colwell stopped by on Friday and refused to discuss his work or the reaction
to it, saying only, "I'm sorry if this is putting pressure on Lori."
Nova Carta
not a good idea to put a volatile painting in a window unless you
really want to make a statement and are prepared to reap the
consequences.
Prick a guilty man's conscience and he will either react with remorse
or with dissent. No prize for guessing which way this one went.
Nova
dreamwalker
Where's her work depicting the 9/11 victims?
"eric davis" <ericda...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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