Artistic expression can’t be repressed

There’s a whole new meaning to the body and blood of Christ.

The exhibit of a life-sized naked chocolate sculpture of Christ, by artist Cosimo Cavallaro, was cancelled due to an outcry from Catholic officials last weekend.

The opening of the exhibit at the Lab Gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel in New York City was planned for tonight and would have coincided with Holy Week, which some Catholics are deeming bad timing. The nontraditional nudity of Christ (in that he is depicted without a loincloth) has only enraged people further.

The offensiveness of the piece is debatable, but to deny the right of an artist to show his art demonstrates how dangerous the idea of political correctness has become.

Dismissing art because of consequential shock and anger, especially in regard to religion, is to prevent open discussion about the questions it may raise about our society.

Religion complicates our society in its prevalence, and in this case, to the point of dictating the creation of art. When priests tell us pretty much everyone is going to hell, people don’t call in to churches to complain and don’t picket through pews .

Generally, religious ideals are respected in the apathy they receive by non-religious people. Why not allow the people the freedom of expression, when others get their 45-minute Sunday sermons? Artists should be given the same level of respect when it comes to expressing their views.

The power of art to raise questions and offer criticism about society is intrinsic. Being able to voice opinions without fear of repercussion is the artists’ right and they should be allowed the opportunity to argue against criticism.

In regard to the chocolate Jesus, its former title “I did it daddy” and the nudity are offensive. But the anger felt shouldn’t diminish the ability of the artist to show his work. In fact, we should take something from those strong emotions and use them to re-evaluate ourselves and our principles, instead of just brushing off the art and the artist.

Drawing the universal lines for what art is and isn’t, what is in good or bad taste, is impossible. No one group should be able to dismiss the work of an artist, especially considering multiple interpretations.

This isn’t the first time in recent years that transgressive art, art that relies on shock value to make a point, has had to contend with religious groups to assure the exhibition.

In 1999, Chris Ofili, an award-winning artist, faced scandal when his “The Holy Virgin Mary,” a collage that incorporated elephant dung, was exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The then-mayor of New York City, Rudolph Giuliani, decided that the city would stop funding the museum if it decided to continue on with the exhibit.

“Piss Christ,” a photograph by Andres Serrano, faced similar contention in 1989 as it depicts a plastic crucifix submerged in a yellow liquid, supposedly the artist’s urine.

Criticism and open discussion are correct responses to a controversial art piece; complete dismissal of the creator’s work and underlying purpose is frightening. We need open dialogue to build a peaceful, culturally and politically diverse society, and shutting down an art exhibit is not really the way to go about that.

My interpretation of Cavallaro’s piece and purpose was that the artist was offering a criticism on the commercialization of religion, and was not directed at the religious institution. As a society, we have bought into mass religious consumerism. Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies have little foundation in the Christian religion, yet have come to dominate Christian traditions.

Unfortunately, it seems that this and other interpretations were ignored as some Catholic church members cried “foul.”

Obviously the artist wanted to create a controversy with his sacrilegious title and naked sculpture, and that is his prerogative.

But to have to submit to religious groups and give up exhibiting certain works of art, in a country where we take pride in our freedom of expression, exemplifies a growth in dangerous oppression of free speech in the art world. A realm that, over all other places, should not have to submit to social dictates.

E-mail Bissell at abissell@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.

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