T'anks to Mr. Bush

[deep]

Sacramento -- A painting of the United States sinking into a toilet now on display in the cafeteria of the state Department of Justice has raised the ire of the state Republican Party, which is demanding that Attorney General Bill Lockyer remove the image.

The painting -- part of an exhibit of more than 30 works by lawyer artists and pieces with overt legal themes -- has an American flag-painted continental United States heading into a toilet. Next to it are the words: "T'anks to Mr. Bush."

The artist, Stephen Pearcy, a Berkeley lawyer with a house in Sacramento, won earlier notoriety for hanging an effigy of an American soldier on the outside of his home here with a sign saying "Bush lied, I died." Angry residents tore the effigies down.

article here

 

[deep]

"Bush Lied I Died" reads the effigy of a soldier hung on this Sacramento house. Since Stephen and Virginia Pearcy erected the sign, vandals have twice defaced it. A neighbor, meanwhile, is trying to get police to investigate the display as a hate crime.

 

[BVS]

Have we not got the point yet? Art is suppose to glorify this administration.

 

[verte76]

Have we not got the point yet? Art is suppose to glorify this administration.

You won't see this artist glorifying this administration! I would definitely defend this work as "art". Controversial, of course. Art, definitely.

 

[financeguy]

You won't see this artist glorifying this administration! I would definitely defend this work as "art". Controversial, of course. Art, definitely.

What's controversial about 'Bush lied, I died' affixed to a dummy of a soldier?

To me, this is a strictly accurate and factual statement, bordering on a truism in fact, and neither controversial, nor indeed a work of art!

 

[nbcrusader]

Hate crime?

 

[U2democrat]

he seems wacky to me.

 

[Se7en]

i took this picture at a rest stop in oklahoma back in december. priceless indeed.

 

[U2democrat]

ew.

 

[TheBrush]

i find it hilarious. this is all factual as financeguy says. The the righties say the dems complain about everything, jeez!!!!

 

[deep]

i took this picture at a rest stop in oklahoma back in december. priceless indeed.

click here for picture

 

[hiphop]

love it, especially the one with the soldier. as a statement, it is a piece of art.

 

[deep]

 

[A_Wanderer]

I don't think that it is worth peoples trouble to try and censor such pieces, it just plays into the hands of the creator far too well.

 

[verte76]

What's controversial about 'Bush lied, I died' affixed to a dummy of a soldier?

To me, this is a strictly accurate and factual statement, bordering on a truism in fact, and neither controversial, nor indeed a work of art!

It's controversial because it's not exactly a compliment, true or false. That's an unorthodox piece of art, but it's art, I'd like to know exactly how he made that thing. Some of the things they say about artists are true, we're nuts.

 

[dazzlingamy]

i love this whole un american thing going on. You can't say one word against the government without a shitstorm coming at you...

what are you... nazi germany?

big brother orson wells style?

 

[A_Wanderer]

Spot on comparison, the 'artist' has been dissapeared into a shallow grave in the middle of Nevada, the work has been incinerated and nobody says a word.

What the bleeding hell do you think makes something controversial? They put those pieces out there to deliberately attract such criticism, and it isn't even worth the trouble of censoring or bothering about, people can make up their own damn minds.

As for Big Brother (and Orson Welles has what to do with the book by George Orwell?) and the creeping tide of it in America keep your eyes closer at home with this bullshit talk about an Australia card as well as the already existing anti-free speech laws in victoria that give undue protection to religious ideas, those things are more Orwellian than a piece of art attracting the controversy that it was designed to get.

 

[financeguy]

What the bleeding hell do you think makes something controversial?

Thousands died, because Bush lied.

As I said before there is nothing 'controversial' about that statement, factually it is true.

 

[Nube Gris]

yes true, so true

 

[A_Wanderer]

The artwork itself is controversial, if I was to take a mock up of an aborted foetus and stick it up with a sign saying that 'I died because of feminism' ~ a factually true statement in that reproductive rights were closely associated to the feminist movement ~ would it not be controversial?

Same with this; you do not put a piece of art together flushing America down a toilet or hanging a dead soldier off your house with an Iraqi flag hanging in your window unless you want to attract controversy.

 

[deep]

actually,
a better piece of art

would be W pissing on the Koran and the U. S. Constitution.

 

[VertigoGal]

great, more Nazi comparisons.

I don't think anyone is saying the art should be destroyed or the artist murdered, I think the controversy is over whether it belongs in a government building. even though I agree somewhat with the sentiment (the toilet one), it does seem at best tactless that it's hanging in the Department of Justice.

as far as the solidier hanging outside his house, I'm not surprised some of his neighbors tore it down. many of them may have kids in Iraq. how would you feel if your son or daughter were in Iraq and some guy who's sitting around here at home takes it upon himself to speak for the people who are actually risking their lives out there? I would be offended. (notice how I did not suggest that the artist be arrested or censored.)

Controversial art is meant to be, well, controversial. That means not everyone will like it. People offended by the soldier display have just as much right to be offended as the artist has to create the art. (They don't have the right to vandalise of course, that's illegal.)

btw, I have a hard time believing that most of you would sit back and cry free speech if a piece of anti-abortion art were displayed in the Department of Justice.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I'm not for censoring art either but there's something to be said for sensitivity. I live in the same area of a family who lost a son in Iraq, and there's no damn way I'd ever put something like that up for them to see. They have enough pain to deal with.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Everyone has the right to feel however they wish regarding controversial art. If someone isn't offended, fine. If someone is, that's fine, too. And both sides have every right to express their feelings. But while I also wouldn't think to put something like that up in my yard, because I agree with the whole touchy subject deal, at the same time, it's the guy's yard, if he wants it there, it should stay there. His neighbors shouldn't take it upon themselves to dictate what he puts in his own yard.

Angela

 

[verte76]

I'm not for censoring art either but there's something to be said for sensitivity. I live in the same area of a family who lost a son in Iraq, and there's no damn way I'd ever put something like that up for them to see. They have enough pain to deal with.

I can understand this. I wouldn't ever do anything like this. I have indeed done protest art myself, and a picture I did of a mosque that's on my site is in fact a protest against violence I did the day some really bad news came in from Iraq about some Wahhabist dingbats blowing up a Shi'ite mosque.