Pointing Fingers

National Portrait Gallery Shamefully Hides Art in "Hide/Seek" Exhibition

 

As an artist who has vigorously fought First Amendment violations in two separate federal court cases, I am all too familiar with stupidity and hysteria surrounding art and religion. Prior to a 2004 exhibition in San Francisco, a Palo Alto printing company deliberately destroyed two of my pieces, one of which, "Who Would Jesus Torture?" depicted George W. Bush on a crucifix sporting a missile between his legs.

Nonetheless, I am still appalled and angered that the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery saw fit to remove the late artist David Wojnarowicz's "A Fire in My Belly," video piece from the "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture" exhibition.

Shrill, pseudo-moral nannies like Catholic League President, Bill Donohue, screeched hystrically, calling the piece "hate speech". Representative Eric Cantor called the exhibition "an outrageous use of taxpayer money," (the show is privately funded) and according to The Hill, a spokesperson for soon-to-be House Speaker, John Boehner, ominously warned that "Smithsonian officials should either acknowledge the mistake or be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January."

The Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough's decision to capitulate to right wing fanatics has no place in the world of art and is terribly damaging to the credibility and reputation of the Smithsonian.

The dirty work was left to National Portrait Gallery Director Martin Sullivan, who took time to explain why the piece was not offensive, but then inexplicably and embarrassingly concluded censorship was the answer:

"I regret that some reports about the exhibit have created an impression that the video is intentionally sacrilegious. In fact, the artist’s intention was to depict the suffering of an AIDS victim. It was not the museum’s intention to offend. We have removed the video."

I strongly urge the Gallery to restore Wojnarowicz's piece, and urge everyone to support a boycott of the Galery until it does. Disgust can be emailed to npgnews@si.edu and a petition can be found here.

Milky Way

Saw Milk at the Castro Theater last night, which is the only place to really see it, methinks. Sad how little has progressed since then. We still have homophobic retards passing fear/hate driven legislation, and impotent, terrified gay "leaders" who shouldn't let the door slam them in the ass on their way out.

Dig You Better Dead

In Memory of Charlton Heston. former actor and president of the National Rifle Association. This homophobic twat once held a rifle above his head, challenging his detractors to pry it "from my cold, dead hands." Finally, the time has come. So pry.

Ali G and Gloria A

Just when you thought there was nowhere further down to go, when the very dregs had been scraped and repackaged, the headline-guzzling, bottom-feeder and celebrity attorney, Gloria Allred, craving publicity since her Amber Frey heyday, has managed to find a way to forcibly insert herself into the latest public media wave.

You guessed it. Borat!

Although I haven’t yet seen Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Better Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, and despite having loved Ali G, Sacha Baron Cohen has managed to overexpose himself nearly as much as Lyndsay Lohan in a very short space of time.

And as it rakes in the millions unexpectedly quickly (over $60 million over the past two weeks), lawsuits and finger-pointing keep popping up like a publicist’s recurring wet dream. Aside from the official Kazakhstan outrage in the form of angry ambassadors and full-page New York Times advertisements, there were the drunk, bigoted frat boys suggesting Cohen’s reps had plied them with alcohol causing Mel Gibson-like diatribes. (They had originally planned to discuss the feminist subtext of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations before the Grey Goose kicked in.)

Then there were the villagers from Glod, Romania, who claimed they were tricked into participating in the movie, and worse, were paid pittance for being portrayed as backward, animal-raping Kazakhs. Then the former Internet sensation, Mahir Cagri, stepped forward to say that not only was he the inspiration for Cohen’s Borat, but that Cohen’s portrayal of him as an anti-Semitic homosexual is a misrepresentation.

So like a shark smelling fresh blood, and with Michael Jackson secluded under an abaya somewhere in Brunei, Gloria has struck like a stingray quicker than you could scream “Crikey!” Cindy Streit, the owner of Etiquette Training Services who teaches Borat etiquette was horrified when he excused himself from the table only to return with a bag containing presumably feces.

Now, with the earnestness reserved for stays of executions, Ms. Allred claiming Streit was led to believe the second of two scheduled sessions "will be filmed as part of a documentary for Belarus Television and for those purposes only," filed a complaint yesterday with California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, requesting an investigation into possible violations of the California Unfair Trade Practices Act. Oh, the indignity of it all.

Perhaps, instead of focusing on how to hold a fork, Streit would be better served teaching herself how to read a contract. And on the subject of etiquette, is it really proper to hire a media whore to scrape the bottom of an already-dry barrel?

What would Miss Manners say?