Robert Flinkman

October 14, 1989      Saturday

Unexpectedly I came across a gritty, determined street-wise exhibit, formed by local artists to protest censorship (intellectual arpatheid), Jesse Helms, and the need to maintain our freedom for expression. Set up at the corner of Prince and Mercer at an empty lot were several artists of different styles and mediums - some New Wave, others representational, paintings and prints hung up on clotheslines, dividers, tables. The strength of the show lay more with individualism and protest than style, really. At the corner on the lot was an old, beat up red van, atop of which played  a New Wave guitarist the old Woodstock version of the National Anthem. Then there stood up a young man, probably in his mid-thirties, dark, short cut hair, several days growth on his face, jeans and jean jacket, and white sneakers. He spoke about the need to maintain our freedoms, the dangers of censorship and Jesse Helms, and the more pressing problems we have to face here in society than just flag burning, like health, education, the economy.....homelessness, and the government wastes time passing censorship laws, etc. The young man claimed it all to be a divertion from more pressing issues he cited, and he's probably right. A crowd gathered to listen and applaud. I watched all of this, listened to him (his voice carried well even tho he had no microphone) and people opened up their windows in nearby buildings to listen, too, and  I wondered years from now this sort of impromptu gathering to voice individual opinion will be a memory. That many years hence I'll remember that at one time someone could climb atop a van....and pronounce his opinion freely to everyone.

 

November 18, 1989     Saturday

I headed down West Broadway to Artists Space, which was holding an incredibly powerful exhibit of works by artists who have confronted AIDS or are now dealing with it. As if that theme alone wasn't sufficient for PR, the NEA has added to it, increasing public awareness of the show by first granting $10,000 to assist the show, then withdrawing it over concern of the criticism and satire directed at political figures and the homoerotic themes running through the show. Once Frohnmayer attended the show and spoke with the gallery's management and artists, the grant money was restored - under certain conditions.
Already from down the street approaching the gallery one could see a steady stream of visitors in and out the front door. Once in one saw throngs of visitors. The front door rarely stay closed one minute. From just a general overview, viewing the photos, artwork, sculpture, one sensed a gasping anger, a flailing rage at an almost invisible enemy gnawing away inside, and the anger at an indifferent and callous society. Striking were the photographs by Philip-Lorca di Corcia, the assemblage vanity case by Jo Shane, the pen and ink drawings by Vittorio Scarpati. Even more frightening were sick letters ignorant people wrote in to the gallery, condemning it for sponsering the artists and their works......The editorial in the Post deserves to be put with the hate mail, it's on that level. As I read it, I saw myself in my mind tearing it to shreds a copy of the New York Post, tearing it apart in anger. The repression forced upon the NEA by right-wing politicians only causes more vehement response from artists, and inflames publicity.......So long as shows such as this continue and thrive like Witnesses : Against Our Vanishing, the freedom of expression and creativity won't disappear.




 

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