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Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Art Pussies

From Advice Goddess:
Stone Age savages show up in your country and announce that from now on if you offend them they'll kill you, and you meekly swallow it? You don't even protest? You say "Yes, sir, whatever you say, sir," and let them have their way with you, like you're a swooning, hopeless sex slave in a Thai bordello?

"Pussies" doesn't even begin to cover it.

Eunuchs. Geldings. Limp-wristed bitches not worth saving.


That's what one comment said referring to this:

Art Pussies
Ben Hoyle writes in the Times/UK of British artists and their willingness to shock -- except when the subject is anything beyond what would offend Granny:

Britain’s contemporary artists are fĂȘted around the world for their willingness to shock but fear is preventing them from tackling Islamic fundamentalism. Grayson Perry, the cross-dressing potter, Turner Prize winner and former Times columnist, said that he had consciously avoided commenting on radical Islam in his otherwise highly provocative body of work because of the threat of reprisals.
Perry also believes that many of his fellow visual artists have also ducked the issue, and one leading British gallery director told The Times that few major venues would be prepared to show potentially inflammatory works.

“I’ve censored myself,” Perry said at a discussion on art and politics organised by the Art Fund. “The reason I haven’t gone all out attacking Islamism in my art is because I feel real fear that someone will slit my throat.”

Perry’s highly decorated pots can sell for more than £50,000 and often feature sex, violence and childhood motifs. One work depicted a teddy bear being born from a penis as the Virgin Mary. “I’m interested in religion and I’ve made a lot of pieces about it,” he said. “With other targets you’ve got a better idea of who they are but Islamism is very amorphous. You don’t know what the threshold is. Even what seems an innocuous image might trigger off a really violent reaction so I just play safe all the time.”


Got it. So, the rest of us will speak out against terrorism, and you can speak out against...cheap gallery opening wine?

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