Today, we present all the submissions to our first (and perhaps only) Draw Jesus Day. [NOT A SPOOF]
Censorship
Posted inArt
Two Days Left Until Int’l Draw Jesus Day!
To celebrate our freedoms and the beauty of America, we are announcing our first-ever (and perhaps only) “International Draw Jesus Day” event on Sunday, December 26th! Email all your submissions to DrawJesusDay@hyperallergic.com.
Posted inNews
Smithsonian’s Censorship Gaffe Continues to Snowball
Two new developments in the Wojnarowicz Censorship case since we last reported on the Hide/Seek show and its problems with government censorship and a Smithsonian Secretary who just can’t say sorry … Washington Post‘s Philip Kenicott is asking for Secretary G. Wayne Clough to resign … collector Jim Hedges wants his work by Jack Pierson out of the show …
Posted inOpinion
Robert Greenwald Blasts Jeffrey Deitch’s Order to Destroy Blu Mural
Filmmaker Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films shoots down MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch’s decision to whitewash the Blu mural without consulting the community … This.Is.A.Must.Read. …
Posted inNews
Wojnarowicz Update: Catholics United Fights Back, AA Bronson Still Rebuffed, Patti Smith Talks
Fighting the perception that all Catholics are as conservative as those espoused in William Donohue’s Catholic League call for the Smithsonian to remove David Wojnarowicz’s “A Fire in My Belly” from Hide/Seek, Catholics United has begun a petition calling for closer scrutiny Donohue’s organization. Specifically, they target his high salary and his claim to represent the wishes of all Catholics. In the meantime, artist AA Bronson has repeatedly been denied his request to have his “Felix, June 5, 1994” removed from the exhibition, and Patti Smith spoke at the Smithsonian despite controversy.
Posted inArt
Hundreds Attend Wojnarowicz Censorship Protest in Manhattan
Today, approximately 400-500 protesters gathered on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum to take part in a rally demanding that the Smithsonian return the censored video by artist David Wojnarowicz, “A Fire In My Belly,” to the National Portrait Gallery’s Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture.
Organized by Art+, a New York-based group organizing direct action against the censorship of Wojnarowicz’s video, the march began in the middle of Museum Mile and marched uptown along Fifth Avenue until the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, which is a Manhattan-based Smithsonian institution.
Posted inNews
Fire In My Belly Protest This Sunday at Met Museum
A protest is slated to take place on Sun Dec 19 at 1pm EST at New York’s Metropolitan Museum. We have links to a handy flyer and a protest action kit!
Posted inNews
More Answers in MOCA Mural Censorship [UPDATE 4]
Some answers are finally surfacing after a week of the LA MOCA controversy. Recently an email between the censored street artist Blu and renowned graffiti photographer Henry Chalfant has been posted online. Blu has confirmed to me via email that the text is real, and Chalfant has said he will provide his comments on the situation this afternoon.
The email reveals, among other things, that MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch did not request or see any preliminary sketches for Blu’s mural, MOCA whitewashed the mural without informing Blu, the artist has yet to be paid, and Blu encountered many veterans who found the mural “truthful.”
Posted inNews
Blu Says Whitewash Was ‘a CURATORIAL CHOICE that involves the CENSORSHIP of a mural’
Artist Blu has just blogged about his surprise that the word “censorship” is disappearing from the discussion of his whitewashed mural and being replaced by the word “curatorial choice.” He also reveals why the mural isn’t as finished as some of his other work …
Posted inNews
Artist Requests to Be Removed from Smithsonian’s Hide/Seek [UPDATE 3]
New York-based artist and artistic director of the Institute of Art, Religion and Social Justice AA Bronson has sent an email to the National Portrait Gallery requesting that his work “Felix, June 5, 1994” (1994/99) [pictured above] be removed from their Hide/Seek exhibition in light of the recent censorship of David Wojnarowicz’s “A Fire In My Belly” video.
Posted inNews
Send Christmas Cards to Imprisoned Artist Wu Yuren
In a protest that has become practice in China, Karen Patterson is starting a movement to flood imprisoned Chinese artist Wu Yuren (AKA “Little Ai”) with Christmas cards as a gesture of support. The artist has been imprisoned for his participation in a protest against studio demolitions since May 31, 2010.
