Since the 1950's, the government has questioned the standards of public taste for art. The National Endowment for the Arts, or NEA, has funded exhibitions for artwork pertaining to gays, AIDS, feminism, ideas of representation, and censorship. The government refers to these particular topics of art as "trash" (Kocur 126). While threatening to take away or cut back on funding for the NEA. Who is to decide what is morally right for the public to see and relate back to the question of what is art? Who has the right to censor a piece of art or is it stated under the First Amendment?
Many artist create art that represents sexuality for various reasons. As quoted by Robertson and McDaniels, " The contemporary period in the West includes many examples of figurative art in which bodies are explicitly sexualized" (87). One example is Judy Chicago with her exhibition of Womenhouse in Los Angeles, California. In Chapter 3, the author states, "the women created installations that exuberantly displayed tampons, underwear, and other items that referred directly to biological functions of female bodies, including menstraution and child birth" (Robertson, and McDaniels 79). If Chicago could exhibit these pieces, how come the government did not interfere like they did with other artists of the time? Should it matter whether the NEA funds them or not? Or is the government only tyring to censor what they fund?
Kocur, Zoya and Simon Leung. "Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985".
Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005. 126. Print.
Robertson, Jean, and Craig McDaniel. "Themes of Contemporary Art Visual After 1980".
2nd. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2010. 79. Print.
Robertson, Jean, and Craig McDaniel. "Themes of Contemporary Art Visual After 1980".
2nd. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2010. 87. Print.
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What is referred to as 'obscene speech' is not covered under the First Amendment. However, the Supreme Court ruled that digital child pornography was legal to distribute because there were no actual children involved in the making of the films. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteWho is to judge, define, and enforce what is "obscene speech"? Who is to define or judge what good art is? Language and artistic forms of expression are not easily controlled. These things associated with women and the experiences that only women can go through are being criticized by NEA (the government) which is more than likely headed by men. The government will censor what they fund.
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