Special Report: Freedom of Artistic Expression and (Neo-)Conservative Politics Do Not Mix

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Oct 28, 2004

In addition to being a feminist art historian and a college instructor, I am a proud political activist. Like so many other Americans, I consider the upcoming presidential election to be the most important of our lives. The results of this election will determine the direction of the United States and the world for generations to come. Civil liberties/rights, reproductive rights, the environment, the global reputation of America, corporate power, and the plight of the working class and the poor are just some of the important issues to be affected by the outcome of the 2 November election. On a more topic-relevant level, the arts will also be affected.

Claims that art and politics have no connection to one another could not be further from the truth. Recent history has shown us how our elected officials have an impact on whether the public should be "allowed" to view certain works. Although this topic concentrates on women painters, artists of both sexes and all artistic methods have been subject to government censorship. The 1980s witnessed censorship against such artists as photographers Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano, while just five years ago, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R) threatened to withdraw funding for a gallery showing Chris Ofili's The Holy Virgin Mary.

Mapplethorpe's 1989 posthumous exhibition of images from his controversial "X-Portfolio" met with opposition from Senator Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina), who argued that the exhibit, which included homoerotic images, was "obscene" and demanded that Congress pull funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which was funding the exhibit. While the first three venues met with little to no problems, the showing at Cincinnati's Contemporary Art Center was shut down by local police on the opening day. Furthermore, both the gallery and its director were indicted on obscenity charges. Luckily, the defendants were found not guilty. The jury comprised "average joes" who had little to no knowledge of visual art. One juror was quoted as explaining the reasoning: "It's like Picasso. Picasso from what everybody tells me was an artist. It's not my cup of tea. I don't understand it, but if people say it's art, then I have to go along with it."(1) Despite this verdict, federal, state, and local officials continued their attempts to block the exhibition of controversial art.

While Mapplethorpe's subject matter tends to be secular, at least one each of Serrano and Ofili deals with religious issues.

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