The words "potentially harmful" on the cover of a book becomes an invitation to open the book, like a dare. The cover of this particular book attracted my attention. Thumbing through its pages, a photgraph of a woman wearing nothing but sunglasses and holding a large rubber dildo in front of her female genitalia caught me by surprise.
The controversial photograph is a self-portrait by Lynda Benglis that appeared in ArtForum magazine as an advertising in the November 1974 issue.
"Shocking, her work polarized the art world" and prompted six art critics (two of the women, reportedly) to write letters to the magazine denouncing the "ad" as an "object of extreme vulgarity" that brutalized" both themselves and their readers. ( excerpt from Lawrence Alloway, Max Kozloff, Rosalind Krauss, Joseph Masheck, and Annette Michelson, 'Letter' ArtForum, December 1974, 9)
The book turned out to be a catalog from an exhibition held from January 10, through March 10, 2006, organized by the Welch School Gallery, sponsored by a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Cathy Byrd, Director of the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Gallery Georgia State University, states in her acknowledgments :
" We completed this historic project with the combined resources of many motivated individuals and organizations, ALL PASSIONATE ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATING A DIALOGUE ON THE SUBJECT OF CENSHORSHIP." (editor's italics and uppercase)
The catalogue lists the "potentially harmful artists" such as David Avalos, Eric Fishcl, Robert Mapplethorpe, Andres Serrano, and many other artists, some lesser known but just as noteworthy. Its pages offer a brief ,yet succinct, look at some of the work of artists whose works deal with sexual expression, political dissent and religious unorthodoxy "While the emphasis shifts depending on the political climate, these three remain the primary targets of censorship."
An accompanying promotion for a DVD created in conjunction to the exhibit goes on to say:
"The direct suppression of artwork is not the only way freedom of expression can be restricted. Government funding for the arts, copyright regulation and the exclusion of certain works from exhibition spaces also curtail the ability of artists to communicate their vision and the right of the public to access a wide variety of ideas."
This particular notion, and the importance of the spirit of this exhibition, became the catalyst for my present endeavor. By creating an online porthole to the works of the artists featured on the exhibition and included in the catalogue, the intention is to give a glimpse of the exhibit to those who never experienced it, and to continue the dialogue.
The Editor
