I belong to a community (link in sidebar under “my places”), Butch-Femme, where the artist of this portrait, DaddyRhon, is a founder. I received an email yesterday alerting me to this:

clipped from www.daddyrhon.com

My portrait of a breast cancer survivor was banned and removed from the spring show at the artist collective where my wife and I rent a studio. I was told there was a vote amongst several artists and the painting was deemed “not family friendly”. Of the many other nudes in the show, only my work was censored.

As you can see, this is not erotica. This is a literal figure study of an older woman who has had a mastectomy. I was holding that woman’s hand the day she was told she had cancer.

Why was this piece considered morally offensive? Because the model is not traditionally beautiful? Because reality is too harsh? Or are there implied subtexts to this piece simply because I am an obvious dyke?

This is a travesty. The thought that other so-called “Artists” voted to censor this moving and honest portrait just breaks my heart. Please stop by at DaddyRhon’s and leave a comment. Show your support for DaddyRhon, if you find it in your heart to do so and if censorship of art pisses you off even half as much as it does me.

In late 2005 one of my pieces was also banned from a show here at our small Victor Valley Art Museum. I offered several pieces of mixed media sculpture, (one of which took 1st place in mixed media), but the most profound piece; the one I intended/created specifically to make a statement or at least pose a question in the viewer’s mind regarding gender, was categorically rejected.

In my case, it was kinda funny really. I have a history in this community. I attended Victor Valley Community College back in the ’80′s and studied Art under Gene Kleinsmith, instructor and Dept. Chair., who became my mentor. He was a big fish in a little pond, and had a reputation as a rebel (as an artist should)! I was President of the “Clay Club” for awhile, ASB Senator of Arts, and he and I became co-conspirators in defense of art, and against censorship of art and artists within the academic setting of our small desert college.

Occasionally back then, we bashed heads with the other art instructor, Molly Kohlschreiber, who was in some way that I can’t quite recall, affiliated with the Victor Valley Art Museum. Happy little ladies painting landscapes and the occasional “southwestern” or imitative Native American styled works. After I left VVC, Gene and I remained close friends and in the early 90′s I wasn’t surprised to receive clippings of Daily Press articles with photos of church protesters who objected to a display of some incredible hard edge nude studies that was being shown in the campus Performing Arts Center. They were phenomenal paintings, both strong and provocative but definitely not pornographic by any stretch of the intelligent imagination!! Big, 4′x6′ canvases of both men and women in all their natural, nude beauty. Anyway, this little trip down memory lane reminds me to write of this later… another story, it seems; my Gene.
So he was censored then, and in 2005 when I began these sculptural mixed media collages and began to ferment the concept for my “GirlyBoi”, as I named her I decided to see what the locals were up to now.

So I submitted my 3 pieces. We took them in on a day when there happened to be several members of the High Desert Artists’ Association puttering around the lobby. My GirlyBoi (as opposed to the “GirlyBoi) and I barged in (the pieces are heavy) seeking somewhere to hang them. As I filled out paperwork I was aware of shocked looks, shaken heads and whispered voices, which I chose to ignore. There was a lovely 30-something gal there who was simply delighted at the bruhaha, and we had a bit of a chat. We laughed quietly, but I knew the piece was doomed. One of the older women very politely suggested that my sculpture might not be appropriate for the family venue, and that she doubted that the Director (or whatever title by which the crusty musty in charge was known), surely would disallow the piece. I mentioned that as a juried show, the jurors should decide, not an administrator. I was polite and friendly, but I think they feared a fight on their hands.

The very next day I received a phonecall, asking when it would be a good time for me to come pick up the piece. I was told that one of the judges wished to speak with me personally about it. She was charming. She asked me about the piece, expressed her sincere enjoyment of it, wished she could offer me a more “appropriate” venue in which to display it, and sadly informed me that the jurors had decided, primarily at the behest of “Mr. Crusty Musty”, that since the local elementary schools, as well as a couple of church groups were scheduled to visit the show, they would have to reject it. She also told me she wished I’d join the Association, because they could use some “new blood” and told me that if somebody didn’t do something, the next “Mr. Crusty Musty” would be the same as the current one.

So, what the hell. I came home, posted the pictures of the piece under “Non- Tattoo Art” over at one of my gallery sites, Tattoo Artist’s dot Org, and captioned the piece, tongue in cheek, thusly:

This is an interactive, three dimentional mixed media piece entitled GirlyBoi. It is sculptural with collage, and incorporates sensory participation with sound and tactile adventures. My art makes a statement. Like me, hate me…that’s okay. Indifference is the true enemy of the Artist.

Poo-Too-Weet?? So it goes. When I was younger, healthier, and not busy taking care of my ol’ grammy lady, I prolly would have pitched a bitch and raised some awareness (hell); no matter how nice she was. I fumed a bit. And you can see from the pics I took before removing the sculpture that I wasn’t happy. And on the way home I thought about calling the Press…

But in the end, I just didn’t have it in me. It’s been 20 years since Gene and I fought the good fight. Now he’s dead, and I’m… tired?! I suppose. And busy… and… and… and.

And I still detest censorship in any form, and I especially resent censorship of art, but I can write and bitch and hand the battle on to those younger and more able than I. So, go get um!!!