by Jerome du Bois
Two months ago, on April 20 (what a day), we posted a satirical, fictional "preview" of an upcoming political exhibition at ASU Art Museum which was to carry the title "Democracy in America."
Two days ago, the Phoenix New Times published an update on this exhibition, which, though shepherded by four of the museum's curators, is unfinished, unbalanced, and the subject of some controversy, since the third Presidential Debate will take place "hundreds of feet away" from the exhibition. I suggest readers compare the two articles. For one thing, we get the Bush-bashing right, which seemed obvious to us but now has university officials' knickers in a twist. It's funny and pathetic seeing these so-called pros scrambling to hide from such weak-ass art. Even our farcical suggestions are better than this crap.
I was in the middle of a long exposition of this whole embarrassment, but I believe it can be summarized by the behavior of curator John Spiak, the submarine behind this disingenuous bait-and-switch. And I have better, more fun things to write about. So let me compress myself:
Just after 9/11, Spiak put on a show called "Nooks and Crannies," which included a piece by Jon Haddock. Here's how Kathleen Vanesian described the situation for NT in October of 2001:
Not all of the show's offerings provide comic relief or witty ironic musings. Like everything else, "Nooks and Crannies" fell unwitting prey to fallout from September 11's tragic terrorist bombings. Jon Haddock's oversize action figures in a stairwell vignette re-creating one of the final scenes in The Godfather became instantly controversial the day after the attacks. The sculptural installation, for which no explanatory text had been put up at the time, depicts several figures lying in pools of resin-made blood, with a nearby gangster dressed as a police officer pointing a gun at another victim fleeing up the stairs.
"There was heavy reaction to [Haddock's work] the day after the bombings because we didn't have any information about it up," the show's curator says. "It caught me off guard. We took the piece out of the gallery for a bit so we could think about it. It made my stomach churn all day thinking about pulling Haddock's work."
The museum quickly came to the conclusion that "if we pulled it, we were censoring it, and the bombing was all about people opposed to our democratic way of life, including freedom of expression." The piece stayed in, Spiak reports. "And I grew as a curator that day."
And in this latest NT piece, written by Joe Watson, he shows how he grew, and how much:
Unlike some ASU Art Museum officials, including Spiak, who stopped returning calls several days ago, many of the artists contacted provided details of the soliciting process, the work they've submitted to the museum's curators, and electronic versions of those pieces, and who frankly acknowledged their disdain for Bush, his policies, and the war in Iraq.
O brave new world, VJ Johnny D, which has such stand-up step-up steel backbone mofos like you in it.
No, they're all cowards: John Spiak, Marilyn Zeitlin, Heather Lineberry, and Peter Held, the first two of whom whine that they can't find pro-Bush or anti-Kerry art. Four curators with dozens of years of contacts can't find art that disagrees with them. Idiots. Well, as we have warned since we started this blog, this is what incestuous legimization gets you: one-side, sophomoric political cartoons.
Read Watson's piece to see nobody except ASU executive director of public events Colleen Jennings-Roggensack stand up for America. Everybody else is worryin and scurryin, jukin and jivin. Funny but pathetic.