About
brief biography
- Clinton Fein (born 1964) is a South African born artist, writer and activist, closely identified with his controversial web site,Annoy.com and his notable Supreme Court victory against Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States, challenging the constitutionality of the Communications Decency Act in 1997, where Fein's right to disseminate his art was upheld in a landmark victory for First Amendment rights.
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September 27, 2007
September 11, 2007
From Abu Ghraib to Beijing
I know my newsletter is supposed to be more or less a monthly thing, and that the last one I sent was in January (or was it December?), but sometimes even I, who have so much to say about everything, has to take a breather and slip into an "observe" mode. It makes the pontificating just a tiny fraction more considered than simply spouting endlessly.
I haven't sent an update for so long that many people have asked me why I had taken them off my email list. Although I usually try and send an update about once a month, I realize it's been over 9 months -- long enough for me to have a child, which I didn't.
Much exciting news to report regarding my Torture exhibition, which, as most of you know, opened in January at Toomey Tourell Gallery in San Francisco. Next stops -- Beijing later this month, London in October and Miami in December. Reviews, by and large, have been really positive, and predictably, I received the requisite hate mail, accusing me of being everything from anti-American to a whiny, unpatriotic, liberal who has no idea what torture is. A sampling of reviews appears below.
Yesterday's London Observer referred to Fenando Botero and I in the same breath. This has happened before, like when Kenneth Baker reviewed Botero's show back in January, but it's usually in reviews on my show, not the other way round. I had an interesting, albeit short, introduction and chat with Mr. Botero myself when he visited the Bay Area for the opening of his show, which I will save for my next update, given the time constraints on this one already!
After much resistance to blogging, and the whole notion of zillions of people writing the equivalent of electronic diaries about what mood they're in at a particular point in time, or what music they're listening to, I started an experimental blog with San Francisco Chronicle's online presence, SFGate, although my postings are hopefully a little more insightful than what color outfit I'm wearing or whether or not I'm tired.
Till next time.
Clinton
| MORE TORTURE: The Show Must Go On Art Beijing Aside from being excited at the prospect of visiting China for the first time, I am particularly interested seeing the reactions that result from an increasingly diverse and somewhat vocal Chinese populace. I also am enjoying being completely clueless as to who will react how to what. Will the exhibit be viewed as anti-American or anti-torture (perhaps a more sensitive topic with the Chinese!)? How will the perspective of Chinese artists differ from Chinese collectors or Chinese officials? I will keep you posted, rest assured. 20 September, 2007 - 23 September, 2007 ART BEIJING Agriculture Exhibition Center 6, East 3rd Ring Road North Road Chaoyang District, Beijing, China >>Art Beijing |
| Bridge Art Fair, London 11 October - 14 October 2007 BRIDGE ART FAIR, LONDON The Trafalgar Hotel 2 Spring Gardens, Trafalgar Square, London, UK >>Bridge London Art Fair |
| Flow Art Fair, Miami Flow Miami, at The Dorset Hotel, with Toomey Tourell will afford another opportunity to showcase the exhibition to an international audience, designed to run in tandem with Art Basel Miami Beach, an international art show becoming increasingly important with passing each year. December 5, 2007 - December 9, 2007 FLOW ART FAIR, MIAMI The Dorset Hotel 1720 Collins Avenue South Beach, Florida >>Flow Art Fair, Miami |
| Criticism and Praise Robert Johnson, former curator in charge of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Despite my efforts to "enlighten him" as he requested, he didn't seem to accept that my underlying commentary was essentially anti-torture, not necessarily anti-American nor anti-military. Many Americans, including those serving in the military, were not all that thrilled to have their reputations stained by a "few bad apples" (as Rumsfeld coined them), who, in reality, were the product of an entrenched, systemic problem. Johnson insisted that having a son serving in Iraq did not impact his reaction to my work. >>Media and Reviews |
| Zoe Trodd, Harvard Fein's work goes beyond this empathetic engagement. He features as a prison guard in this exhibition, and so emphasizes the dark side of engaged art-a troubling relationship between artist and subject. This dark side lurks throughout the protest tradition. For example, when Eddie Adams photographed General Loan in 1968, Loan treated the execution as a performance. He led the prisoner towards journalists, as though, without these witnesses present, he might not have bothered to pull the trigger. Watching and witnessing here provoked and defined an execution, and this complicated the morality of looking. Equally sinister is the fact that lynchings were a lucrative business for photographers, who would regularly document them. Some were even delayed until a photographer arrived, and mob, audience, and police officials regularly posed with the corpses. Many images were sent as postcards through the mail to participants' friends and relatives, often with the sender's face marked and a note to the effect of: "This is the barbeque we had last night. My picture is to the left with a cross over it. Your son, Joe." Like Loan's execution and America's lynchings, the acts recorded in the original Abu Ghraib images look like performances for the camera's eye, as though the greatest shame of all was to have the moment documented for an audience, for posterity. And by including himself within the exhibition, Fein engages head-on this question of the photographer's presence at scenes of violence. Perhaps the artist is as sinister a figure as the original prison guard. Perhaps Fein enjoyed making violence as beautiful as this, and now asks us to enjoy it-asks us to take as much pleasure in these scenes as the original prison guards, with their grins and gestures. Perhaps Fein's camera, which demanded of his models full nudity and physical exhaustion, is as aggressive as the prison guard's club. ...more Zoe Trodd, Member of Tutorial Board in History and Literature. Harvard University, Clinton Fein's Tools and the Master's House of Torture, Gallery Introduction, January 13, 2007 |
| Kenneth Baker, The San Francisco Chronicle Several contemporary artists have tried to evoke the grotesqueries of war...But no one else has reached the peculiar extremes to which Fein goes. Using hired models, he re-enacted and photographed scenes of cruelty that were recorded in the notorious unofficial photographs of "detainee abuse" at Abu Ghraib. Fein presents these images as giant panel-mounted chromogenic prints. To viewers who remember the Abu Ghraib images, Fein's pieces will look both grimly familiar and oddly aestheticized. Two are his inventions. Encountering them in an art gallery provokes tangled responses: outrage that someone would advance his own ambitions through the degradations the Abu Ghraib photos record; perverse temptation by the opportunity to study the mise-en-scene of the original pictures, safe in the knowledge of seeing simulations; despair that history has again diverted the resources of art away from pleasure and contemplation to bleak and urgent critical functions; and, finally, the recognition that, after all the barriers between art and life come down, nothing insulates our enjoyment of the arts against toxic pollution from our knowledge of real events. How far should simulation in art go? Will we next have to ponder a re-enactment of, say, Saddam Hussein's execution, or even Daniel Pearl's, merely because these images can be found on the Internet, and because they symbolize the degeneration of American foreign policy? ...more Kenneth Baker, The Horror of Torture, Reinterpreted through Art, The San Francisco Chronicle, January 20, 2007 |
| Michael Leaverton, San Francisco Weekly Clinton Fein usually comes across as a political art guerrilla, putting images of elected officials and controversial figures in digitally manipulated, uncompromising positions (Rudy Giuliani in a urine-filled glass, President Bush on a crucifix, Saddam Hussein as an "I Want You" Uncle Sam), which immeditely freaks everybody out -- especially the government. (His company's Web site, www.annoy.com, features a fine chronicle of the dust-ups.) But the photos from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal gave him all he needed for his latest exhibit, "Torture." There are no loaded juxtapositions and no funny, morbid slogans, merely a faithful representation of the shocking photographs, blown up to mammoth size, which can leave you staggering about the gallery over the horror of it all. ...more Michael Leaverton, Precision Strike, SF Weekly, January 17, 2007 |
| Reyhan Harmanci, The San Francisco Chronicle Fein says that he became increasingly desensitized to the images he was creating as he staged more and more shoots, but he didn't lose all sense of the horror. Both he and his models found themselves involved in the physicality of the situation -- they complained of hurt knees, of the unpleasant weight of human bodies in the pyramid scenes -- and that lesson isn't lost on those who view the large-scale photographs either. Like Stanley Milgram's infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, in which college boys transformed themselves into warring prisoners and wardens with breathtaking speed, Fein's photographs speak to the darker impulses of human nature, the power of context in determining behavior. There's a lot of evidence that the Abu Ghraib soldiers were filling roles designed for them by their superiors. ...more Reyhan Harmanci, The Bigger Picture, The San Francisco Chronicle, January 11, 2007 |
| Alan Bamberger, ArtBusiness.com Clinton Fein makes "art" out of Abu Ghraib. But this quick walk through hell is not so much about Abu Ghraib, nor about America's insane megalomaniacal imprimatur, nor about dredging up yesterday's news. It's mainly about what happens to those friends and acquaintances of Fein who consent to help him re-enact these infamous episodes. You might think that since they know what they were getting into, it's no big deal... or is it? If you're not sure, Fein's got some video you might wanna check out. Suppose someone asked you to participate in such an exercise? Would you? Do you think it would be easy? And how about the original Iraqi unfortunates? How do you think they felt? How do you think they feel today? They had no choice, no inkling, no clue whether they'd be alive one moment and dead the next. Pick of First Thursday. Alan Bamberger , Clinton Fein - Torture, ArtBusiness.com, January 4, 2007 |
| Juana Carrasco Martin, Periodico 26, Cuba The works will be exhibited under the name "Torture;" it could not be otherwise. It is not acceptable to use the euphemism "abuse," as is done in official government statements and by the press, when the reality is that United States carried out the most horrific crimes at Abu Ghraib. This is not the first time that Clinton Fein has sparked controversy, or that the issue of Abu Ghraib has been dealt with; pictorial works by Colombian Fernando Botero have also spotlighted the misdeed. Fein however focuses on the choreography and "sexualization" of the torture, working with the images of naked prisoners, men forced into contorted positions, inmates made to simulate degrading and humiliating sexual acts. The artist pokes away and it exposes the dark side of a war that the American people were tricked into by their own government, and one in which hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been slaughtered. The jolt of Abu Ghraib impacted the consciousness of many when the pictures were published in April 2004, and will have a continued impact through "Torture" by Clinton Fein. It is a necessary reproduction because it is indispensable that the wave of indignation grow more powerful and systematic in order to do away with those who conceived, organized and ordered the execution of the war against Iraq. ...more Juana Carrasco Martin, Images of Torture by US Military Featured at California Art Gallery, Periodico 26, Cuba, January 3, 2007 |
| Kate Nicholson, Art Proper As much as Clinton Fein's photographs in his show at Toomey-Tourell (49 Geary St, San Francisco) are about torture and politics, they are more captivatingly about reversing what we see imbedded in the images. Certainly Fein is drawing viewers into a political debate on the abuse of prisoners in the Iraqi prison, Abu Ghraib, by re-presenting those now infamous images first published in April 2004. However, by re-photographing them with stylized, hyper-real clarity Fein is giving the viewer permission to look at what was shunned in the originals: the details and the psychology revealed in them. His use of stylized, dramatic lighting indeed amps up these perversions to bring that agenda to the forefront and draws our attention directly to it. He has intentionally conflated aesthetic experience with shocking imagery. One could argue that Fein has aestheticized the grotesque with this approach. One could also argue that he simply intended to present an uncensored version. However, his intention is as blurred as his images are sharp. After all, he did include fictionalized re-staged scenes in this exhibition. ...more Kate Nicholson, Clinton Fein at Toomey-Tourell, Art Proper, January 22, 2007 |
| Andrew Sullivan, Time Magazine Clinton Fein, has recreated scenes from Abu Ghraib to bring home the consequences of the Bush administration's torture policy. Do not click if you are squeamish. Andrew Sullivan, Looking at Torture, The Daily Dish, Time, January 2, 2007 |
| Pointing Fingers I am planning to send my posts to my email list, but am certain that not all of you all want to hear from me that often either. To that end, I have taken the liberty of adding you to my blog list, (which is probably more of a weekly thing than a monthly thing). However, if you prefer to simply receive the updates like you have before, and are not interested in receiving the blog updates as well, please just respond to the first one you receive with "unsubscribe" in the subject field. I realize time is precious and we all receive too much information already, so I promise I won't take offense (particularly since the process will be automated anyway!) Ideally though, you will forward it on to friends or people you think would enjoy (or hate) it, or better yet, respond in the comments section. Feedback is always good to receive, negative or positive. Pointing Fingers on SFGate Clinton Fein's Pointing Fingers |
| Torture Video Promotion Chinese Simply click on the image below, and a new window will open.  |
| English It's worth watching on YouTube just to see some of the astounding reactions from those who have seen and commented on it.  . |
| Contact Information MICHAEL PETRONKO GALLERY 646-536-7362 478 West Broadway New York, NY 10012 Michael Petronko michael@michaelpetronkogallery.net GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday - Sunday: 11 a.m. - 6.00 p.m. Monday by appointment |
September 06, 2007
Idaho, No You-da-ho!
I don’t usually write about my sex life. But to all those who asked, or plan on asking me questions about secret codes in the wake of Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho’s sex sting arrest in a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport bathroom, from people who just assumed I would know, I thought I would lay it all out.
Let’s just say I’ve been around the block once or twice.
I couldn’t possibly count the number of people I have had sex with. Math was never my strong suit. I’m not bragging or strutting my prowess. It’s simply a fact.
I’ve done it everywhere. On a plane, in a car, on a beach, in a forest, in a park, in a parking lot, in the ocean, in a pool, in a hot tube, in a sauna, in a steam room, in a school toilet (I was a student at the school at the time).
I’ve had sex with a Fedex carrier, a plumber, an electrician, a painter, a mechanic, a yoga instructor, a personal trainer, a film star, a porn star, a politician and almost every other profession under the sun in almost every city in the many countries I’ve visited over the years. There have been twosomes, threesomes, foursomes, and fivesomes (and higher numbers too, but who’s counting?) There’s hardly a porno fantasy that I’ve seen that I haven’t actually experienced myself.
Yet even the times that I did it in a public place, the likelihood of being caught by anyone was slim to none. The thrill, you see, wasn’t about getting away with a risky situation, but rather unwillingness to deprive oneself of an opportunity that was presenting itself right there and then.
Maybe it’s just an innate sixth sense, but I’m pretty good at picking up what the score is. Even without the help of the Internet, (or travel guides before that), I can usually sniff my way around until I find the most conducive spot, where the attainment of my desire has the highest probability.
Perhaps this is why my friends assumed I would automatically know what happened to Senator Craig in the airport bathroom.
But in all my years, and uncountable encounters, never have I known about a foot-tapping code in a public restroom, nor the bizarre signal of sliding one’s hand under the stall of the intended, neighboring target. While I am astounded that Senator Craig seemed to be so familiar with the conduct he denies ever happened, it makes sense that a closeted person seeking an anonymous encounter would need to be familiar with such codes.
Who would have thought that there was something new to learn in the cruising for sex realm from an anti-gay, conservative, closeted, Republican senator? Why hadn’t I ever heard of nor encountered these tawdry mating rituals?
Had I been in the stall next to Senator Craig, I would likely have mistaken his foot tapping for impatience at his bowels for ignoring the pressing time restraints of his tight flight schedule.
Maybe it’s because I don’t need to do an elaborate, toilet-inspired tap-dance to get laid. It’s not that I consider myself unusually good looking by any means, but I do know what it’s like to be objectified, and to be desired for my looks alone, my brilliant mind, alas, having no bearing on the situation whatsoever.
Could it be that I don’t feel a need to conduct my sex life in the shadows, embarrassed over who I am? Maybe it’s because I haven’t half-heartedly taken sacred vows and fraudulently committed myself to someone who expects my shrill rhetoric about “protecting” families and hatefully embracing of “values” that “strengthen” marriages to match my conduct.
Yet gleeful as I am about the uncomfortable plight of an anti-gay politician, who doesn’t believe gays are fit to serve in the military (but fit to service him in the john), and as unconvinced I am about his denials, and his supposed “wide stance” that would have him “mistakenly” touch the foot of the man in the next stall (would love to see him demonstrate this seemingly acrobatic stance that would qualify him for a role in Cirque de Soleil) his arrest is disturbing because the whole purpose of a code is to determine a level of interest from someone who, by virtue of merely understanding the code, is likely looking for the same thing.
So when Senator Craig determined that Sgt. Dave Karsnia, the arresting officer, was not responding to the foot-tapping, either by foot-tapping back, or making some other gesture that demonstrated his interest, he should have had the common sense to quit. That's why there are codes, idiot! It’s that clouded judgment, along with immediately pleading guilty to make it “all go away” that suggests he is ill equipped to serve as a representative of the people of Idaho, let alone in any leadership role.
Since I would never find myself in the same position as Senator Craig, I tried to imagine what I would do from Sgt. Dave Karsnia -- the entrapper’s -- point of view, or if I was minding my own business in a bathroom stall and some strange, liver-spotted, gnarled hand swept across the underside of the stall. My guess is I would probably yank off the wedding ring, and walk out, making sure to flush first. Etiquette always.
But then again, if I was Sgt. Dave Karsnia, I would be too busy thinking about what to tell my family when they ask me how my day was, or what to tell my kids if they wanted to inform their peers what their father actually does as a “first responder.”
“Well actually I spend my life pretending to be taking a crap, hoping some desperate closet queen will tap his foot in the stall next door. And then, respond I do.” The self-actualization he must feel is heart warming.
I understand addictions and compulsions, and recognize that for some, seeking to satisfy these urges includes the risk of a dangerous encounter – like a public toilet at a busy airport. For me, there is no excitement in that sort of risk, just like there is no joy in trying to convert someone who is sexually predisposed to a different gender; no matter how attractive they may seem on the surface, or committed to pleasing me.
As I write, criticizing the players in this sordid drama, I’m sure my many critics will jump at an opportunity to condemn my immoral behavior, and the extent to which I indulge my hedonistic urges for what I term first-encounter sex (not to be confused with anonymous sex, which in turn is not to be confused with sex in a public place). While some will chalk up my promiscuity to my fear of intimacy, (many close friends already do) I prefer to see it as rather disenchantment with repeats or dissatisfaction with third encounters of the close kind. Metaphorically, to the extent that there are new, ravishing delicacies yet to be tasted, why would one keep on eating the same meal, no matter how good, over and over again?
Senator Craig saw fit to announce on the floor of the senate, that Valentine’s Day happened to be the anniversary of the first date he had with his wife Suzanne. “Am I a romantic? Well, maybe just a little bit,” he said coyly. One can imagine the romantic gift. Glade toilet spray?
"I am not gay. I never have been gay," Senator Craig doth protested defiantly following a news conference after the story first broke. A week later, as his adult children make the rounds on national television, defending daddy’s honor (and exacerbating mommy’s humiliation), proclaiming that his specious explanations had addressed all their “tough” questions to their satisfaction, Republican hypocrites like Trent Lott, Mitch McConnell, John McCain and Mitt Romney (to name a few) are now sweating like whores in a church at the prospect of Senator Craig retracting his “intended” resignation, and fighting to not only have his plea changed to “not guilty” but to retain his seat in the senate.
Senator Craig, who is up for re-election next year, will never be able to erase the screaming subtext from whatever façade he chooses adopt as a campaign theme or slogan, and politically and strategically will have no choice but to, once again, acknowledge who he isn’t and apparently never has been.
“Larry Craig for Senate 2008. I’m not gay; It's just my stance.”
