Bush ape art censored

[Odin]

Taken from http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au:

Reuters
December 15, 2004

NEW YORK: A portrait of George W.Bush in which images of monkeys are used to form the US President's face has forced the closure of a New York art exhibition and provoked an anguished debate about freedom of expression.

Bush Monkeys, a small acrylic on canvas by Chris Savido, created a stir at the Chelsea Market public space in lower Manhattan, leading the managers of the market to close the 60-piece exhibition that had been scheduled to be on show for a month.

The show featured art from the upcoming issue of Animal Magazine, a quarterly publication featuring emerging artists. From afar, the offending painting is a likeness of Mr Bush, but on closer inspection it is clear his image is made up of chimpanzees swimming in a marsh.

"We had tonnes of people, like more than 2000 people, show up for the opening on Thursday night," exhibition organiser Bucky Turco said.

"Then this manager saw the piece and just kind of flipped out – 'The show is over. Get this work down or I'm gonna arrest you'. It's been kind of wild."


Mr Turco took the show down at the weekend and moved the art to his own gallery. Calls to the management of Chelsea Market, which offers the public exhibition space amid its fruit and vegetable stores, bakers' stalls, coffee shops and other retail outlets, were not returned.

Pittsburgh-based Savido, 23, said he was surprised by the strong reaction to his painting, listed in the catalogue at $US3500 ($4672).

"It seems like people got a kick out of it," he said. "When they really see it, they almost do a double-take. I like to get a reaction from people." He said he was pleased his work was gaining so much attention, but slammed the decision to close the exhibition as "a blatant act of censorship".

So much about the American freedom of expression and speech...

Here is a pic of the work from Reuters.com:

[evilshell]

I saw that a few days ago. It makes me terribly sad and frustrated (and angry!) to see what is happening back "home". Sadly, this seems to be one of many similar stories these days.

[LightBringer]

 











Here's some more... :P  :P  :P

[AngelOfMusic]

Those pictures are awesome.

[K. Beckman]

Yeah. The guy to the left does really look loke Bush. :roll:

[AngelOfMusic]

Yeah. The guy to the left does really look loke Bush. :roll:

*snickers*