For my 21st birthday, my friend McKenna gifted me a book called The Museum of Scandals: Art That Shocked the World by Éléa Baucheron and Diane Routex. Its one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten. It spans a range of topics but the section on politics has been one of the most intriguing. One piece in particular that has resonated with me is Art in the Streets Fresco by BLU (c.2011). BLU is an anonymous graffiti artist based out of Bologna, Italy. The Museum of Contemporary Arts (MoCA) in Los Angeles, California hosted a street art exhibition that BLU was asked to participate in. However, not even 24 hours after the work was unveiled it was whitewashed on the orders of the museum director, Jeffrey Deitch. So, what’s there to be offended by?
The work spans the length of the building and it contains an endless expanse of coffins covered in dollar bills to replace the traditional stars and stripes. The perspective is foreshortened and its immense size makes the work feel like it is extending into the viewer’s space. The gravity of the message is clear: American soldiers are expendable for the sake of making money. Lives are lost for the sake of lining the wallets of the wealthy.
I would like to encourage readers to find the art that has caused a scandal and give it another look. Question those that might want to censor it and why. Learn from history and see that if they’re the ones in charge, that work might soon be gone.
Deitch censored the work he commissioned because he didn’t wish to offend the local community, especially given that the location of the work was adjacent to a veteran’s hospital and war memorial. This censorship feels wildly short-sighted, however. In an effort to not stir a scandal, the director took away the same work that the veterans were identifying with. It’s a work that I feel many Americans identify with, given the disproportionate allocation of wealth and the rise of an oligarchical government.
In my last post here today on WhereCreativityWorks.com as the resident art history blogger, I want to thank anyone who has read my work. I would also like to encourage readers to find the art that has caused a scandal and give it another look. Question those that might want to censor it and why. Learn from history and see that if they’re the ones in charge, that work might soon be gone.
~Abby Wilson