Thoughts on Censorship.
So my cousin has an article up in his lj (not linking without permission... forgot to ask for it... DOH!)entitled "Imperfect Moments: Mapplethorpe and Censorship Twenty Years Later"
So it got me thinking... About Censorship... About Art... something that once apon a time I OBSSESSED over (more then I do about game now... so that should tell you something) But haven't been giving much thought about until we started taking Scudge to the Museums.
I had a great professor once who classified good art as "Something that draws a Strong Reaction weither or not the Artist intended that Reaction". Good Art. I believe she said that after I made a snarky snarky comment about one exhibit in the Philadelphia Art Museum that was... Crayon. On. The. Wall.
Reaction HATRED. I HATED IT. HATE HATE HATED it.
But anyway, Censorship and art.
Simply Put... I don't believe it belongs there. A painting that depicts something... unsavory (or downright offensive) is still a painting. Now if it was a painting of a pedifilic relationship and it had live models... the painting isn't illegal, the use of the models is illegal... so yeah there could be a wierd gray area I suppose.
But still the painting itself is still a painting.
I'm supposing here that I'm not really talking too much about photography, which does deserve it.
I don't know much about it. I know more about paint and sculpture then the others... and at this point in my life feel that those areas are lacking.
But back on point, If it's something you don't want to look at, you have the control over your eyelids, not the artist. Don't Look.
Don't like something on tv? Turn it Off. Don't like a kind of music? Turn it off. Don't like a painting? Walk away, same with photography and sculpture.
Exercise your abilities to walk away.
The point of the article was more about Federal Grants for art and what is acceptable there.
Wow. Ok. I have no clue.
My more conservative side is screaming "WHY ARE WE GIVING MONEY OUT FOR THAT?"
While my more liberal side is screaming "OH MY GOD WHY AREN'T WE SUPPORTING MORE ARTISTS AND GROWING OUR CULTURE?"
SO I really don't want to touch on that too much because I still have to get dressed and go clear off the car and pay a frickin frackin fine...
But really. Censorship should come from within. With a small child in the house, we don't open up certain topics and yeah my book that was from a homicide detective is ... not out ... but at the same time, I will not hide the truth from her.
WOuld I show her the pictures in the article? No not yet. She wouldn't understand them. They aren't in her mind frame. That is as close to censorship as I try to get. Yeah I do try to keep her innocent. But that's called parenting. I'm certainly not goig to tell you what to paint, or shoot, or sculpt. I just might not buy it, or take her to see it.
(Let's face it at this point she's annoyed by nude paintings... people showing their private beauty to the world tut tut)
She does what I thinki anyone who doesn't want to see them does.. she turns her head or asks me to change the picture on the screen (Sorry King Neptune, she thinks you draw really gooder then anyone, but she really didn't like the nudes - heh Strong Reaction even if it's not what the artist intended)
Ok Gotta go pay a fine.
~End Rant~
So it got me thinking... About Censorship... About Art... something that once apon a time I OBSSESSED over (more then I do about game now... so that should tell you something) But haven't been giving much thought about until we started taking Scudge to the Museums.
I had a great professor once who classified good art as "Something that draws a Strong Reaction weither or not the Artist intended that Reaction". Good Art. I believe she said that after I made a snarky snarky comment about one exhibit in the Philadelphia Art Museum that was... Crayon. On. The. Wall.
Reaction HATRED. I HATED IT. HATE HATE HATED it.
But anyway, Censorship and art.
Simply Put... I don't believe it belongs there. A painting that depicts something... unsavory (or downright offensive) is still a painting. Now if it was a painting of a pedifilic relationship and it had live models... the painting isn't illegal, the use of the models is illegal... so yeah there could be a wierd gray area I suppose.
But still the painting itself is still a painting.
I'm supposing here that I'm not really talking too much about photography, which does deserve it.
I don't know much about it. I know more about paint and sculpture then the others... and at this point in my life feel that those areas are lacking.
But back on point, If it's something you don't want to look at, you have the control over your eyelids, not the artist. Don't Look.
Don't like something on tv? Turn it Off. Don't like a kind of music? Turn it off. Don't like a painting? Walk away, same with photography and sculpture.
Exercise your abilities to walk away.
The point of the article was more about Federal Grants for art and what is acceptable there.
Wow. Ok. I have no clue.
My more conservative side is screaming "WHY ARE WE GIVING MONEY OUT FOR THAT?"
While my more liberal side is screaming "OH MY GOD WHY AREN'T WE SUPPORTING MORE ARTISTS AND GROWING OUR CULTURE?"
SO I really don't want to touch on that too much because I still have to get dressed and go clear off the car and pay a frickin frackin fine...
But really. Censorship should come from within. With a small child in the house, we don't open up certain topics and yeah my book that was from a homicide detective is ... not out ... but at the same time, I will not hide the truth from her.
WOuld I show her the pictures in the article? No not yet. She wouldn't understand them. They aren't in her mind frame. That is as close to censorship as I try to get. Yeah I do try to keep her innocent. But that's called parenting. I'm certainly not goig to tell you what to paint, or shoot, or sculpt. I just might not buy it, or take her to see it.
(Let's face it at this point she's annoyed by nude paintings... people showing their private beauty to the world tut tut)
She does what I thinki anyone who doesn't want to see them does.. she turns her head or asks me to change the picture on the screen (Sorry King Neptune, she thinks you draw really gooder then anyone, but she really didn't like the nudes - heh Strong Reaction even if it's not what the artist intended)
Ok Gotta go pay a fine.
~End Rant~