"Killer Barbie" Art Paranoia at UT
Byker
hypodermic syringe in the other, while standing in a six-foot-high pink box,
intended to resemble the packaging in which Barbie dolls are sold." Might
as well go all the way and include niglets, rocks, reefer, and 40's, along
with an HIV-positive, junkie caca-colored "Ken" in hip-hop....
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'Racist Art' Paranoia Strikes UT-Austin
School Removes 'Black Threat Barbie' Exhibit
by Sara Russo
University art professors are well known for their tolerance of the unusual
and grotesque. If we are disgusted by Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ", they
tell us it is because we are focusing on the physical fact that the piece
consists of a crucifix submerged in urine, and are thus missing the artist's
noble intent to provide a strong critique of religion. The claim that the
artist's intent should be given the benefit of the doubt when critiqued by a
viewer's initial perception is seldom challenged in the artistic world. Not
so, apparently, when the community in question is the University of Texas at
Austin and the issue under contention is race.
More than a week before an exhibit at the Texas Union Gallery was set to
close, one piece was removed from the exhibit because viewers perceived it
to be racially offensive. The work in question, titled "Black Threat
Barbie," was created by University of Texas student Ray Stanfield, a studio
art major, to illustrate the absurdity of the view that blacks and
minorities constitute a threat to society. In other words, the intent of
Stanfield's piece was to criticize racism, not to condone it.
The piece consists of a black mannequin who holds a gun in one hand and a
hypodermic syringe in the other, while standing in a six-foot-high pink box,
intended to resemble the packaging in which Barbie dolls are sold. "The
Barbie doll is ridiculous, and the Black Threat Barbie doll is even more
so," Stanfield explained. "This was meant to say 'Hey, look at what I was
taught to believe.' It's just as ridiculous as believing little girls
should be like this."
While it is true that no explanation accompanied the "Black Threat Barbie"
exhibition, most artists do not provide summaries of their work's meaning.
The intent of a piece is meant to be elicited by its audience, and the
startling effect of a visual artwork can in many ways be lessened by a
statement of the artist's purpose. Susan Whyne, a studio art professor who
disagrees with the Fine Arts Committee's decision to remove the work asks,
"Are we always going to have to have a statement about every piece of art in
the museum?"
Furthermore, it was clearly not just first impressions that led to the piece
's removal and perceived offensiveness. Camilla McKinney, chair of the
African-American Culture Committee acknowledges that Stanfield's status as a
non African-American influenced the committee's decision to remove his
piece, because they felt that he did not understand their culture. "We're
at a predominantly white university.some people come from small towns, and
they have no perception of black people," she said.
A student writing into the Daily Texan, Austin's student newspaper,
concurred that Stanfield's whiteness was a key factor leading her to call
for the piece's removal from the exhibit. "I, as a black woman, am outraged
that the University is allowing 'Black Threat Barbie' to be displayed in the
Texas Union art gallery. It's bad enough that I have to look at Robert E.
Lee's face everyday, but this is ridiculous. What fool dares to call this
display of a black woman with one hand made into an IV needle and the other
hand made into a gun, art? To make matters worse, it was created by one of
my fellow white students who does not know anything about my culture or its
people. I honestly don't give a rat's butt why he created this sad excuse
for artwork, but I do know that it needs to be removed."
While the outraged student may have a point about the validity of calling
Stanfield's exhibit "art," it is clear from her statement, and the remarks
of Camilla McKinney, that the work was removed largely because the
African-American Culture Committee did not believe that a white student had
the right to express his sentiments about blacks. Additionally, it was
assumed that because Stanfield is white, his intentions in portraying a
black stereotype must be racist, and therefore should be censored.
The University of Texas had an opportunity to foster discussion about race
among its students. Instead, they chose to censor a well-meaning student,
and ignite racial tensions by publicly declaring that a white man has no
standing to comment on the lives of blacks. "Black Threat Barbie" was
intended to symbolize the absurdity of negative stereotypes about
African-Americans. As a result of UT's actions, it has come to represent
the oppression of creativity and the fear of free speech.
Gone-A-Viking
shit, but not show niggers in a true light.
On Sun, 26 Nov 2000 21:38:33 -0000, "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net>
wrote:
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Col. Rich Jorgensen (The real one) (check the headers)
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