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richard meyer, a scholar who has written on the censorship of homosexual imagery in american art ... suggests the complexity of the strange dance that artists and their detractors do, and the strange way in which censorship shifts attention away from the content of art and onto the artist and his or her politics.
censorship is one of the most effective ways to make artists famous.
it draws attention not only to their work, but often to relatively minor details in their work (the naughty bits). once censored, an artist's work is no longer just art, but "censored art," which is its own category.
alex donis, a west coast artist, found his exhibition of paintings pulled from the watts towers arts center, in los angeles, when it was deemed too explosive. donis's show, called "war," showed cops dancing with gang members ... they are potentially seen as homoerotic, and that may have been the real reason for the curators to yank the show. it was replaced with a simple sign that shows the complexity of the humor and irony animating some of the best gay artists today: "war is canceled."
- philip kennicott, "'gay' art: dolled up and still dressed down," washington post november 30, 2003
posted December 01, 2003 in art, politics, print, sex. 20022000