Friday, 4/18/97 ‘American Chestnut’ tree bears bumper crop of
social issues Artist uses variety of media to discuss beauty, AIDS,
oppression
By Stephanie Sheh Daily Bruin Contributor The American chestnut
tree will die before it ever blooms. It is cursed with a disease
that will kill it before it matures, but the tree never gives up
its fight for survival. Performance artist Karen Finley borrows the
symbolic struggle of the tree for her new piece, "The American
Chestnut." Her one-woman show, which uses the illnesses in the
plant world as metaphors for social ills, plays tonight at the
Veterans Wadsworth Theater. "The American Chestnut" uses the theme
of survival to deal with various social dilemmas. Some of the
subject matter in the piece include discussion about face lifts and
the notion of beauty, living with AIDS, sexual abuse and obstacles
women confront daily. "One of the things I talk about is a coming
of age and having a body," Finley explains. "I discuss how the
female has to learn how to deal with that and how that makes her
feel. I do that in a very humorous way by talking about how men’s
clothes and men should be more eroticized." Society’s oppressive
attitudes toward women is just one of the recurring topics in
Finley’s numerous works. She communicates social and political
messages through a wide variety of media. Finley, who also paints,
sculpts, has musical credits and has written several books,
combines theater, performance, literature and visual arts into her
shows. "(The different media) kind of feed into each other," Finley
says. "A lot of times I’ll have an idea and I’ll try to think what
kind of medium I should use and I just kind of combine a lot of
medium. They just all seem to work together." The content and the
aesthetics of Finley’s artwork together as well. She says, "I am an
artist and the difference is that (without the aesthetics) I would
just be a politician. "My work has a content like any of the
musicians when there were peace activists songs … And I think
that’s the same for writers, for dancers, and with art. Yes,
content is important. However, I think that my work definitely has
an aesthetic." In her social, political and personal expressions,
Finley has drawn a significant amount of attention. She was dubbed
"chocolate-smeared woman." by syndicated columnists Rowland Evans
and Robert Novak after Finley smeared chocolate cake frosting on
her bare torso. "I think that there’s nothing wrong with me when I
own the body to be exploiting it." Finley confesses. "The nude has
been part of art for centuries. It’s just that I think that when
the female uses the body and takes control of it, it’s still that
the female becomes considered oversexualized, hysterical or that
people are going to go out of control. There’s still such an
incredible fear of dealing with the woman’s emotional character or
her body, especially for men, but even for some women too. "I think
that there’s been a tremendous amount of men that have used their
body and have done things that have probably been more outrageous
than me, but yet they would be applauded or be able to go to the
next step emotionally," Finley points out. "I think that when a man
takes his shirt off he’s going to work, when a woman takes hers off
she’s hysterical. She’s deviant." Finley’s use of her nude body for
art may make some call her a deviant. It created controversy after
Finley received approval for a grant from the National Endowment
for the Arts (NEA). But, as a result of Sen. Jesse Helms attacking
the NEA for giving funds to artists who the public would consider
obscene, Finley and three other artists, John Fleck, Holly Hughes
and Tim Miller, were denied grants. "My grant was taken away,"
Finley says. "Basically what I’m doing is I’m suing, with three
other artists, (arguing) the notion of decency. That when the
government gives money they can’t (dictate) a certain standard of
decency." Finley cites recent controversy over her NEA grant as
reason to see her show. She says, "I think that it’s important for
people to see what it is that is causing such a furor. I think that
that’s important historically. "This is work that you’re not just
going to be seeing on television. It’s something that has a real
edge and high intensity." THEATER: Karen Finley will perform her
one-woman show "The American Chestnut" tonight at the Veterans
Wadsworth Theater at 8 p.m. Tickets are $27, $29 and $9 (for UCLA
students with ID). For more information, call (310) 825-2101. UCLA
Center for the Performing Arts Artist Karen Finley reflects on
society in her one-woman show.