FBI decides "the artwork is not dangerous."
Michael Newton
"subversive" paint and brushes.
mn
Dec. 12, 2001, 3:01AM
Museum staff defends Secret Wars exhibit
By DALE LEZON
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle
Officials of a private Houston art museum recently investigated by federal
agents for displaying allegedly anti-American artwork claim they were
victims of misguided jingoism and that they will not be censored. The
agents determined the artwork was not dangerous, said FBI spokesman Bob
Dogium. The investigation, he said, was part of Attorney General John
Ashcroft's anti-terrorism campaign. "I think it's the new McCarthyism,"
said Donna Huanca, docent at the Art Car Museum in the Heights. Even more
disturbing, she said, was that the agents questioned her about her personal
life and whether her parents knew she worked at the museum. She called the
agents "intimidating." "I felt terror," said Huanca, 21, a University of
Houston art student. "They were scaring me."
A museum patron's anonymous tip led FBI and Secret Service agents to
investigate artwork said to threaten President Bush in an exhibit titled
Secret Wars, Dogium said.
At Ashcroft's urging, law enforcement investigates all tips about apparent
anti-American activities after the terrorist attacks Sept. 11. The Secret
Service investigates any alleged threats to the president, Dogium added.
"In line with (Ashcroft's) directive that we would leave no stone unturned,
" he said, "all these calls are taken seriously and followed up."
The exhibit, which opened Sept. 21, examines wars worldwide and personal
conflicts within families. It includes a statement deploring the Sept. 11
attacks and questioning why the United States was targeted. The museum's
Web site said the exhibit investigates artistic "dissent to covert
operations and government secrets." Huanca said the agents visited the
museum about 10:30 a.m. Nov. 7, a half-hour before it opened. She gave them
a private tour and they questioned her about the artwork, particularly
EmptyTrellis (revisited) by Houston artist Tim Glover. The work is a
charcoal drawing of President Bush's bust at a speaker's podium. A steel
trellis in the shape of a half globe encloses the drawing. Gold-colored
metal leaves litter the floor below it. Glover said the artwork expresses
his concern about what he calls
this nation's harsh stands on ecology. It is not an attempt to threaten
Bush, he said.
"I attribute (the agents' interest) to the mass hysteria going on," Glover
said.
The agents also were concerned about a large, framed painting by Houstonian
Lynn Randolph that depicts an urban skyline burning. Jim Harithas, the
museum's founder and director and director of Houston's Contemporary Art
Museum from 1974-79, said the
exhibit is not meant to be unpatriotic. But the current political climate
appears to curb free speech, he said, and "the potential is there for
thought control."
"Apparently now, any criticism of the president is subject to
investigation," he said.
Harithas, director of the Corcoran Gallery in Washington from 1965-69, said
he will not be deterred from mounting other thought-provoking exhibits at
the Art Car Museum, which opened in 1998. "Are we supposed to cower in
fear?" he said. The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through
Sunday. Admission is free.
Matthew Montchalin
|A museum patron's anonymous tip led FBI and Secret Service agents
|to investigate artwork said to threaten President Bush in an exhibit
|titled Secret Wars, Dogium said.
Since the "anonymous" museum patron probably didn't even exist, it
might be better to look at party affiliations to see if some other
reason might have motivated the FBI and Secret Service to come
down on this museum.