Any African Americans here?
Henry
Giuliani of removal of his art work at the Brooklyn Museum. Guiliano is
trying to withold a large amount of funding unless Ofili's work is
removed.
Is this of no concern to African Americans?
Here's the facts:
The painting, "The Holy Virgin Mary," depicts Mary with
dark skin, African features and flowing robes. It features
a shellacked clump of elephant dung and two dozen cutouts
of buttocks from pornographic magazines.
The artist, Chris Ofili, 30, a black Catholic who was born
in England and lives there, has said he used the
pornographic images because classical images of Mary are
often "sexually charged."
He also told Salon magazine in February: "Elephant dung in
itself is quite a beautiful object."
Ofili began using elephant dung during a six-week stay in
Zimbabwe. He is now famous for using the material -- which
he gets from the London Zoo -- in virtually all his
artwork. In 1998, he won Britain's prestigious Turner
Prize, a $33,000 award for artists under 50.
Bill Moore
wrote:
=> An award winning Black artist is being threatened by New York's Mayor
=> Giuliani of removal of his art work at the Brooklyn Museum. Guiliano is
=> trying to withold a large amount of funding unless Ofili's work is
=> removed.
=> Is this of no concern to African Americans?
This is not a racial issue. The question is whether public funds
taken by the government's authority to tax can be use to fund projects
that offend so many. The answer is NO.
Tax money should not be used to fund arts because it always leads to
this kind of difficulty.
-- -------
Bill Moore