Silenced passion
Arts council censors Music Festival art show
By Bill Lascher 02/21/2008
Passion has many definitions, but some artists’ interpretation of the emotion is a bit too risqué for Ventura County.
Three pieces of artwork were pulled from the Appassionata art exhibit as it was displayed at the Ventura County government center’s hall of administration. The exhibit complements the Ventura Music Festival, also themed Appassionata and focused on music from the “romantic period” of the 19th Century. Forty artists contributed work for the exhibit to be auctioned off at the festival’s annual fund raiser March 29.
After exhibiting without a hitch at the Artist’s Union Gallery in Ventura, though, the show did not go as smoothly when the exhibit moved to the government center Feb. 6. A painting by Bob Moskowitz, the head of Ventura College’s art department was rejected before the show was hung. The work depicts a naked woman playing a violin as a man sits nearby, clothed and contemplative. According to Moskowitz, the man is a composer and the woman is the muse of music inspiring him.
“I think it goes with the theme,” he said.
The other two rejected pieces were removed from the show after the Ventura County Arts Council, a non-profit organization that organizes exhibits at the government center, received complaints from the public and county employees about the exhibit. One was a mosaic by Paul Zanotti reminiscent of a Roman relic. It depicted the bust of a bare-breasted woman gazing into the distance. The other disputed piece was a work in marble by G. Ramon Byrne depicting a woman’s buttocks with a cloth draped around them. The edges of the drapery form a heart around the buttocks and thighs.
Byrne said he wasn’t surprised that some people took offense to the piece because people offer so many different reactions to art they see. He also recognized that the venue wasn’t necessarily somewhere people go to view art, but to conduct their own business.
“At the same time I can understand other people’s thing, I also have to respect my right as an artist and also the public’s right to not hide our body or that aspect of ourselves,” he said. “For me creating the piece was about those forms, those lines, the folds in the fabric, the crease in her buttocks, the beautiful round form. I’m not an erotic artist, per se, I just created that piece “
Margaret Travers, the executive director of the Ventura County Arts Council, said her organization has a written policy that the space needs to exhibit local artists and consider that the government center venue is a space of work and business.
“The work that is accepted for exhibit we feel is appropriate for a population that is not there to see a gallery but to do business with the county,” she said. “We are more than happy to expose people to art that may not have that opportunity.”
Travers said that those who made complaints to the arts council said the work was good art, but not appropriate for the venue. Most of the art submitted is still on display and will be through March 12.
“We feel that this is a great opportunity for those artists which are amongst the best artists in the county to show the work,” Travers said. “We have a unique space. We feel that it is a very important space because it is allowing people who are would not choose to go to a gallery as a specific destination … though there may be a few limitations because it is a public space, not a private space, we feel it is still worth it.”
But as a community trying to be California’s “New Art City,” is Ventura ready for the influx of artists it hopes to attract to the area?
“Ventura is very conservative and they feel very comfortable with subject matter that is not very challenging on certain levels,” Moskowitz said. “I think it’s a little bit of a test because Ventura is trying to be ‘the new art city.’ Well, the city needs to broaden its definition of what that means.”
Moskowitz and his wife, who also has art in the exhibit, donated their art because they support the music festival’s mission. A piece he submitted last year was not shown publicly when the show reached the Thousand Oaks Civic Center. It ended up fetching the highest price at auction and he hopes he can help the festival raise money this year. Moskowitz said that piece was a tribute to an 1863 Manet piece titled “Luncheon on the Grass” that was kept out of an exhibit in Paris (the Manet piece itself paid tribute to a 17th century Raphael painting).
“It’s almost 150 years later and here Ventura’s thinking a couple of breasts are going to throw people into chaos,” Moskowitz said. “It’s symptomatic of maybe how little things have changed.”
Byrne said he got involved with the music festival because he thinks that it is his duty as a member of the local arts scene to support other art forms. He doesn’t want to alienate government leaders and the public, but he said artists need to stir people up sometimes. That’s especially the case as the city adopts the “New Art City” label, he said.
“Ventura’s going to need to have venues where the artists aren’t encumbered,” he said.
Three pieces of artwork were pulled from the Appassionata art exhibit as it was displayed at the Ventura County government center’s hall of administration. The exhibit complements the Ventura Music Festival, also themed Appassionata and focused on music from the “romantic period” of the 19th Century. Forty artists contributed work for the exhibit to be auctioned off at the festival’s annual fund raiser March 29.After exhibiting without a hitch at the Artist’s Union Gallery in Ventura, though, the show did not go as smoothly when the exhibit moved to the government center Feb. 6. A painting by Bob Moskowitz, the head of Ventura College’s art department was rejected before the show was hung. The work depicts a naked woman playing a violin as a man sits nearby, clothed and contemplative. According to Moskowitz, the man is a composer and the woman is the muse of music inspiring him.
“I think it goes with the theme,” he said.
The other two rejected pieces were removed from the show after the Ventura County Arts Council, a non-profit organization that organizes exhibits at the government center, received complaints from the public and county employees about the exhibit. One was a mosaic by Paul Zanotti reminiscent of a Roman relic. It depicted the bust of a bare-breasted woman gazing into the distance. The other disputed piece was a work in marble by G. Ramon Byrne depicting a woman’s buttocks with a cloth draped around them. The edges of the drapery form a heart around the buttocks and thighs.
Byrne said he wasn’t surprised that some people took offense to the piece because people offer so many different reactions to art they see. He also recognized that the venue wasn’t necessarily somewhere people go to view art, but to conduct their own business.
“At the same time I can understand other people’s thing, I also have to respect my right as an artist and also the public’s right to not hide our body or that aspect of ourselves,” he said. “For me creating the piece was about those forms, those lines, the folds in the fabric, the crease in her buttocks, the beautiful round form. I’m not an erotic artist, per se, I just created that piece “
Margaret Travers, the executive director of the Ventura County Arts Council, said her organization has a written policy that the space needs to exhibit local artists and consider that the government center venue is a space of work and business.
“The work that is accepted for exhibit we feel is appropriate for a population that is not there to see a gallery but to do business with the county,” she said. “We are more than happy to expose people to art that may not have that opportunity.”
Travers said that those who made complaints to the arts council said the work was good art, but not appropriate for the venue. Most of the art submitted is still on display and will be through March 12.
“We feel that this is a great opportunity for those artists which are amongst the best artists in the county to show the work,” Travers said. “We have a unique space. We feel that it is a very important space because it is allowing people who are would not choose to go to a gallery as a specific destination … though there may be a few limitations because it is a public space, not a private space, we feel it is still worth it.”But as a community trying to be California’s “New Art City,” is Ventura ready for the influx of artists it hopes to attract to the area?
“Ventura is very conservative and they feel very comfortable with subject matter that is not very challenging on certain levels,” Moskowitz said. “I think it’s a little bit of a test because Ventura is trying to be ‘the new art city.’ Well, the city needs to broaden its definition of what that means.”
Moskowitz and his wife, who also has art in the exhibit, donated their art because they support the music festival’s mission. A piece he submitted last year was not shown publicly when the show reached the Thousand Oaks Civic Center. It ended up fetching the highest price at auction and he hopes he can help the festival raise money this year. Moskowitz said that piece was a tribute to an 1863 Manet piece titled “Luncheon on the Grass” that was kept out of an exhibit in Paris (the Manet piece itself paid tribute to a 17th century Raphael painting).
“It’s almost 150 years later and here Ventura’s thinking a couple of breasts are going to throw people into chaos,” Moskowitz said. “It’s symptomatic of maybe how little things have changed.”
Byrne said he got involved with the music festival because he thinks that it is his duty as a member of the local arts scene to support other art forms. He doesn’t want to alienate government leaders and the public, but he said artists need to stir people up sometimes. That’s especially the case as the city adopts the “New Art City” label, he said.
“Ventura’s going to need to have venues where the artists aren’t encumbered,” he said.
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