Anti-Bush drawing called 'hate speech'

[Snellius]

Dec. 11, 2003 | SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An award-winning drawing blaming President Bush for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was pulled from a small-town exhibit over "insurance issues" after a businessman withdrew his $300 prize and called the piece a form of "hate speech."

Artist Chuck Bowden's drawing, "The Tactics of Tyrants Are Always Transparent," won second place in the Redwood Art Association's annual fall exhibit, held earlier this month in Eureka, Calif. In the 11-inch-by-14-inch drawing, a crown and halo-topped Bush stands on a grave, his hand dripping with blood as bodies fall to the ground from the World Trade Center towers in the distance.

Bowden called it a tribute to those who lost their lives in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, and he acknowledged the piece was meant to place blame for the attacks squarely on the shoulders of the president.

But the work upset at least one sponsor. After Bowden's piece was deemed the second place winner by the lone judge, it was quietly bubble-wrapped and stuffed into a closet while 193 other works were prepared for the exhibit's public opening.

"They shouldn't call it `open to art,"' Bowden said of the contest's original call for entries. "They should call it, `open to Republican art' or `open to closed-minded art."'

http://www.salon.com/ent/wire/2003/12/11/bush_art/index.html

[dbt]

1. But it would've been OK if

the drawing had depicted Bill Clinton, now wouldn't it?? Nobody would've said a word--or, if they had, they would've been written off as whiners, now wouldn't they?

:grr:
dbt

[MrBenchley]

2. What I love about this...

is that if the guy who thought it was hate speech had kept his yap shut, would a national magazine like Salon have even mentioned who took second place at the Redwood Art Association's annual fall exhibit?

But now the entire country knows AGAIN how desperately the GOP is trying to keep certain questions from being asked aloud in public...

[ithacan]

3. totalitarian mentality once again rears its ugly head

it's scary.

No criticism of the Führer is allowed! He is beyond criticism. He is God on earth.

Any criticism of the Führer is blasphemous. It is Hate Speech.

Next I expect that people who tell anti-Bush jokes will be turned in by right wing neighbors, coworkers, relatives, arrested, and sent off to American Gulags.

[ozymandius]

5. Oddly, the Nazis displayed art they found offensive.

Then they derided the entire exhibition as "Degenerate Art". (Forgive me - I forget the well known historical German term.)

Perhaps if history repeats itself, we will eventually see this "hate speech".

[gristy]

4. dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=265427

[Kolesar]

6. "Dear Skinner, I have a request for a new avatar"

Actually, I did not see the painting yet. It is not on the Salon website.

[liberalmuse]

7. Wait a minute...

'hate speech'? I thought hate speech was classified as incendiary and biggotted words directed towards a group of people simply because of something they can't change: race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. It really isn't 'hate speech' if the person has worked hard to earn that hatred, is it?

[rman]

8. yeah, but they change the rules as they go,

so they're always right.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Article focusing on the owner of the frame shop who took back the prize

(snip) Owner of Eureka Art and Frame comments on controversial drawing
By Meghan Vogel The Times-Standard


EUREKA -- Paul Bareis, co-owner of Eureka Art and Frame along with his wife, Linda, explained Tuesday why he decided to take back the second-place prize money in the Redwood Art Association's 45th Annual Fall Exhibit.

The piece that won second prize in the show, Chuck Bowden's "The Tactics of Tyrants are Always Transparent," was taken out of the show, according to the Redwood Art Association and the Humboldt Arts Council, because of insurance reasons. The Humboldt Arts Council, which does insurance underwriting for the RAA, said Bowden's work, priced at $35,000, was more than what its insurance company can normally insure.

The Bareises had donated $300 to the second-place prize winner, but when they found out the subject matter of Bowden's piece, rescinded their offer. "The Tactics of Tyrants are Always Transparent" is an 11-by-14-inch drawing critical of President Bush. The artwork accuses Bush, through imagery and text, of being connected to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

"Freedom of speech is not a one-way street," Paul Bareis said. "A person has a right to paint what they want, and I have the right to not fund hate speech. I didn't want my business associated with someone's political thought."

Bareis also accused the Times-Standard of "trashing my business for your own political gain." (snip/...)

http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2896~1821455,00.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sure hope we can find a look at that drawing. H'ray for Chuck Bowden.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Here's the work in question

http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1071125632401_2003/12/12/main_bushpainting,0.jpg

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/12/1071125632585.html

[Occulus]

11. Nicely done.

Lots of elements-

* standing on the grave of freedom while a river of blood and oil flows nearby. Depiction of * as a little boy king.

Those aren't bodies falling from the trade center, though. Don't really know what they are- pills, maybe?