UCI Art as Culture War Mapplethorpes Paintings Discussion – Description
This week we have introduced the concept of the Culture War. Artists occasionally found themselves or their work subject to public debate as one side or another of the political world found fault with the message. Read them” by deconstructing and decoding what you think the context might be; what is the author’s message. React to them as much with your emotion as with your intellect. Answer this question PROMPT 3: Which image this week was most shocking to you? Why? Did you find it so shocking that it should become a political issue? The information of these two pics (choose one to answer): In 1990 the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. was scheduled to stage “The Perfect Moment.” The museum director cancelled the show under pressure from several trustees and from members of Congress, including Sen. Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina). The cancellation outraged the art world; and when another D.C. museum mounted the exhibit instead, record crowds attended. Meanwhile, when the exhibit later traveled to the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, the local sheriff ultimately arrested the museum director on charges of obscenity over seven of the photos. The director, Dennis Barrie, was ultimately acquitted, in part because Mapplethorpe’s startling images were clearly composed for effect and not equivalent to actual pornography. The newspaper article assigned with this week’s reading questions whether the artist’s work retains its power to shock in the present day.
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