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When Phildelphia artist Erika Risko's work was exhibited at the 2008 Moore College of Art & Design's Senior Art show, it hung as the artist intended and as shown to the left.
When it was included in the curated show "Early Look," which took place recently at the Longview Gallery in Washington, DC, it was also displayed in the same form.
"Early Look" was an exhibition (curated by this writer) that showcased undergraduate art students from along the Mid Atlantic and included several Philadelphia area artists. The DC student show was later picked up by Norfolk, Virginia's Mayer Fine Art, and Erika Risko's "Martyrdom" piece moved down to Norfolk where it was also displayed as the artist intended it to be.
Soon after the opening, the gallery was directed by a member of the building's management to remove the piece, demanding that it be taken down because of the nudity displayed in the work of art.
Rather than submitting to this mind-numbing censorship of the human body and remove the work by Risko, the gallery owner decided to cover up the offending breasts and thus make the demand look as foolish as possible.
Last we heard, the gallery was planning to have a party in which attendees could design and make tasteless pasties to rotate throughout the month and, in our opinion, give Norfolk, Virginia the title of "Most Embarrassing American City of the Month."
The nude was considered in "bad taste and offensive," but by allowing the public to create tasteless pasties for the work, the gallery is hoping to show how ridiculous this issue is, and that others think so as well.
We'd also like to remind the troglodyte folks who censored the gallery that they need to start a petition to cover up their state's official seal, too: it shows an exposed female breast.
Shame on you Norfolk, Virginia!
Update: The gallery owner has clarified to us that the building management was responding to "complaints" and they had not initiated the censorship on their own.
Erika Risko's images courtesy of Mayer Fine Art.
State of Virginia seal via Virginia.org.
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