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 if you were to make a big monkey face out of little moneky faces it's art and if you make a President's face out of little monkey faces, then it's .... ?? What?
Why did he have to take it down? It's not neccessarily offensive, I'd assume that George W gets referred to as a monkey (or many other animals) a few million times a day by various people all over the world.
I think it should be allowed to be displayed. It makes people think.
Besides, by banning it, this painting just got more promotion that it could've ever gotten if they had just let it sit quietly in a corner of the museum. Another art gallery will snap it up, me thinks.
NEW YORK - A banned painting of U.S. President George W. Bush that is composed of smaller images of monkeys has found a new home, projected on a giant billboard in Manhattan.
The portrait, called Bush Monkeys, is the work of artist Chris Savido.
'Bush Monkeys'
It was part of an exhibition of 60 works at the Chelsea Market, but the managers of the public space shut the show down earlier this month.
Although no reason has been given publicly for doing so, the show's organizer, Bucky Turco, said the exhibit was closed following a threat from a Bush supporter to boycott the show.
In response, anonymous donors paid this week to have the painting projected above the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, where it will be seen by roughly 400,000 commuters every day.
From a distance, Bush Monkeys appears to be an unremarkable portrait of Bush.
On closer examination, the acrylic-on-canvas work proves to be a double image – Bush's face is actually made up of monkeys in a marsh.
On his website, Savido says the painting is a reaction to Bush's blurring of the traditional separation of church and state in the U.S.
"The chimps symbolize the shared biological ancestry of all humanity (including that of President Bush)," Savido explains.
The original 18-by-24-inch painting has also been put up for sale on the internet auction site EBay.
Some of the proceeds will go toward a charity that buys body armour for U.S. troops in Iraq. Although Savido opposes the occupation, he says he has some close friends serving there.
Hmmm...was it shut down by the gallery manager because he's pro or anti bush? Too bad the reason wasn't given.
Either way it's asinine.
If the manager was pro bush, the piece really isn't insulting. It's not like the painting was made from monkey poo....it was made out of smaller painted monkey faces.
If the manager was anti bush, it's not really a piece promoting the president...in fact if you think about it, there are some shots of Bush where he kinda looks like a monkey...
Holy War....You're basically killing each other to see who's got the better imaginary friend. - Richard Jeni
12-15-2004 06:16 AM
