Re: Bush Portrait Draws Fire (Tiny chimps make up portrait)
Gary S. Simon
mordacp...@hotmail.com wrote:
> Bush Portrait Draws Fire Over Details, Not Subject
>
> By HOWARD O. STIER
>
> http://tinyurl.com/5gn99
>
> Artwork in an exhibition that drew thousands to the Chelsea Market for
> its opening last week was abruptly taken down over the weekend after
> the market's managers complained about a portrait of President Bush
> fashioned from tiny images of chimpanzees, according to the show's
> curator.
That _was_ unfair to chimpanzees.
mordacp...@hotmail.com
By HOWARD O. STIER
Artwork in an exhibition that drew thousands to the Chelsea Market for
its opening last week was abruptly taken down over the weekend after
the market's managers complained about a portrait of President Bush
fashioned from tiny images of chimpanzees, according to the show's
curator.
Bucky Turco, who organized the show, said that a market director had
expressed reservations about the Bush portrait, a small colorful
painting by Christopher Savido that from afar appears to be a likeness
of the president but viewed up close reveals chimps swimming in a
marshy landscape.
"I approached them with the idea of bringing an edgy show by emerging
artists here. I showed them an issue of our magazine, and they were
psyched," said Mr. Turco, publisher of Animal, a quarterly publication
with offices in the market that features photographs and graphics
inspired by urban culture.
Mr. Turco said that while he had cleared the work to be hung with Irwin
Cohen, a director of Chelsea Market, the management took issue with the
image of Bush.
"When we hung the show on Wednesday, we were asked to take down the
Bush piece," he said. "I agreed but said I thought it makes a strong
addition and I would re-hang it for the opening."
Mr. Turco did that, and last Thursday, the meandering hallway of the
market on Manhattan's West Side filled with a gallery crowd of artists,
models and rap singers. But the presence of a disc jockey and open bar
created a nightclub milieu. That provoked another person who helps
manage the market, Mr. Turco said.
"The party's over right now," Mr. Turco said the market worker told him
before calling security to clear the crowd.
"I said, 'Let's walk and talk this over,' and when we passed Chris's
painting, he flipped," Mr. Turco said. "If I didn't take the show down
he was going to have me arrested, seize the art, and evict me from of
my office," he said. Mr. Turco delivered a contrite letter to the
market management the following day but was forced to remove the 60 art
works, photos and paintings on Saturday, about a month before the show
was supposed to end. The offices of Around the Clock Management were
closed over the weekend and there was no response yesterday to repeated
messages to a market representative.
The 23-year-old artist at the center of the controversy had been
excited about the show. Mr. Savido said, "It's a
portrait-slash-landscape and the monkeys just seemed to make sense. I
saw one woman gave it the finger but I think it wasn't directed at the
painting.""I came to New York to express myself," said Mr. Savido, 23,
of Pittsburgh. "I would never have expected this censorship to happen
here. I really feel powerless."
The offending painting is on display temporarily at the magazine's
small gallery on East Ninth Street.
"I'm hoping to find a sympathetic gallery to put on this show," Mr.
Turco said. "I don't like being censored."
Most people at the market yesterday seemed indifferent to the empty
Plexiglas display panels, but Rebecca Benhayon, 23, an actress, who was
reading at a cafe table yesterday, expressed disappointment. "It's the
architecture and the art that make this place so interesting," she
said. "Taking the show down because someone didn't like an image seems
oppressive. It's un-American."