So I come across this letter from a reader. Who I pissed off enough to share her galled opinion.
She spoke to me somehow and as I watch the current political climate, I cannot help thinking, why the fuck do we all have to be so sensitive? – JDW
Letters To The Editor. This Week. September 13, 1989
Helms and Hitler
To the Editor:
I found Jack Welch’s August 16th column, “At Large: Artist As Shaman,” to be particularly galling. He starts out comparing Senator Jesse Helms to Adolf Hitler. Hitler had some ideas about what was good art. Senator Helms has some ideas about what kind of “artistic” work deserves tax funding. Got it? That means Helms is like Hitler!? It sounds logical if you lump all the details.
At the risk of sounding condescending to you readers, I’d like to point out that since Hitler was human, we all have points in common with him. That doesn’t make us all Nazis. What we want to shun is Hitler’s criminal, inhumane practices and totalitarian government.
(Speaking of inhumane practices, euthanasia and abortion were accepted practices in pre-Nazi Germany and they paved the way for Hitler’s expanded extermination programs. It isn’t Senator Helm’s crowd that’s pushing these in our country!)
But in arguing this point of logic, I don’t want people to miss the fact that Senator Helms is not legislating what artists can do. He is not advocating the arrest or incrimination of nonconformists. His big point is that tax money should not go toward what most taxpayers would consider obscene.
Let’s get specific. We’re not talking about someone coloring outside the lines. We’re talking about a photograph of a crucifix submerged in urine, about photographs of sado-masochistic scenes. Scenes like one man urinating into another man’s mouth. These “works” of two artists were to receive a total of $45,000 of tax money through the National Endowment of the Arts.
Helms stepped forward saying that the government shouldn’t use tax monies to support artists that “the taxpayers have refused to support in the marketplace.” (Time, Aug. 14, 1989, pg. 82) Hey, what do you know, taxation with representation!
On the other hand, the idea that some elite little group knows better than we do what’s good for us and so has the right to pocket our money to fund it – that’s the idea that is moving toward totalitarianism.
An artist doesn’t have the right to urinate in our collective face and then demand we give him $20,000 or more for his trouble.
Pamela Bishop
Portland OR
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“PISS CHRIST” AUCTIONED BY SOTHEBY’S
On May 13, 2014 the Catholic League offered its candid opinion of the sale.,
On May 15, Sotheby’s will auction the Andres Serrano masterpiece, “Piss Christ,” at 9:30 a.m. The taxpayers were forced to fund this “art” in 1987 to the tune of $15,000; it was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. “Piss Christ” is Serrano’s primary contribution to Western Civilization: he urinated in a jar with a crucifix.
Serrano claims that Christians who complain about “Piss Christ” do not understand that he never intended to insult them. Perhaps it was meant as a “love letter.” No matter, there is no record of him defecating in a jar with a statue of Muhammad. Or a picture of his mother. Perhaps he loves them less.
Sotheby’s is a perfect place to auction “Piss Christ.” In 2005, a print garnered $42,000. In 2009, it netted $146,500. In 2011, it went for $50,000. The one on May 15 is expected to go for $100,000 to $150,000. Christie’s sold one for $105,000 in 2000, and in 2011 another went for $314,500.
The Catholic League will not make a bid. But we are interested in interviewing the sucker who buys it.
If you know who the lout is, please have him give us a call.