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Link to entire article:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...,0,2719699,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
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Broward pressures Art Guild to remove graphic painting of Bush from 'Controversy' exhibit
By Jean-Paul Renaud
Staff Writer
May 27, 2005
An explicit art piece at the private, nonprofit Broward Art Guild was removed from its prominent position in the gallery after the agency's director received a phone call from the county's Department of Cultural Affairs, which partially funds the group.
The Broward Art Guild's annual exhibit, entitled "Controversy," caught the attention of Becht when she received a complaint from another artist in the show that an art piece entitled "Yahoo!" was offensive and inappropriate.
"It's not every day that you get a call from the director of cultural affairs at your home," said guild director Susan Buzzi. "Of course I took it very seriously."
The piece in question is a painting depicting President Bush being sodomized. Artist Alfred Phillips said images of an oil barrel and a man wearing a Muslim headdress in the work are part of a political statement about the United States being abused by oil companies.
Michael Friedman, the artist who complained to the county, said the painting is offensive and tasteless.
"Something snapped inside," he said. Friedman himself entered a piece depicting Pope Benedict XVI with several swastikas in the background.
"Sodomy in a public forum is not, from my perspective, considered art," he said. "I think somebody has to draw the line somewhere. I like political satire. However, that type of image ... I don't think is artistic."
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...,0,2719699,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
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Broward pressures Art Guild to remove graphic painting of Bush from 'Controversy' exhibit
By Jean-Paul Renaud
Staff Writer
May 27, 2005
An explicit art piece at the private, nonprofit Broward Art Guild was removed from its prominent position in the gallery after the agency's director received a phone call from the county's Department of Cultural Affairs, which partially funds the group.
The Broward Art Guild's annual exhibit, entitled "Controversy," caught the attention of Becht when she received a complaint from another artist in the show that an art piece entitled "Yahoo!" was offensive and inappropriate.
"It's not every day that you get a call from the director of cultural affairs at your home," said guild director Susan Buzzi. "Of course I took it very seriously."
The piece in question is a painting depicting President Bush being sodomized. Artist Alfred Phillips said images of an oil barrel and a man wearing a Muslim headdress in the work are part of a political statement about the United States being abused by oil companies.
Michael Friedman, the artist who complained to the county, said the painting is offensive and tasteless.
"Something snapped inside," he said. Friedman himself entered a piece depicting Pope Benedict XVI with several swastikas in the background.
"Sodomy in a public forum is not, from my perspective, considered art," he said. "I think somebody has to draw the line somewhere. I like political satire. However, that type of image ... I don't think is artistic."
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