Oakland Post (Wednesday October 18, 2000)

 

BANNED: Jef Bourgeau defies censorship, establishes art museum

 

By: Mike Murphy

The Oakland Post

 

            Rising from the ashes of an art show deemed too controversial for the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), Rochester artist Jef Bourgeau’s Museum of New Art (MoNA) held its opening last Friday in Pontiac.

            Though not a museum by definition, (a museum must have a permanent collection) the MoNA displays a forum for contemporary art not yet seen in the Detroit area.

            Currently, the MoNA features two shows, “Critical Eyes,” and “e-MoNA,”

            “Critical Eyes” features pieces drawn from the private collections of local area art critics and museum curators.  Bourgeau, the museum’s director, feels the show offers an insight into the collections and tastes of people uniquely in tune with art.

            “I wanted to see what someone who puts together art shows or critique art shows would collect,” he said.

            Two rooms in the back of the museum feature “e-MoNA,” an art show solicited, collected and produced over the internet.  Bourgeau put the show together by inviting over a thousand artists via email to submit work electronically to him as an email attachment.  He then printed images sent in by 50 different artists from 25 different countries and put them on display.

            Bourgeau urges the public to come to the museum with an open mind to see the paintings, photographs, video, and audio works on display.

            “There’s something here for everybody.  You can’t gauge this art.  You go with your gut, what engages you.  Contemporary art is all about when people say ‘I don’t know anything about art, but I what I like,” said Bourgeau.

            The museum which will be offering memberships and accepts donations I free to the public and is open from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. on Wednesday through Sunday.

            As long as I’m involved with the museum, I’ll try to keep it free,” he said. “No one should pay for viewing art.”

            Dick Goody, director of Meadow Brooke Art Gallery at OU, also believes the MoNA is a place to be visited.

            “This puts Pontiac on the map in terms of contemporary art.  It’s just the place for experimental art in Detroit.  Jef Bourgeau is committed to art on the cutting edge,” said Goody.

            Jef Bourgeau didn’t seek out his status as a controversial artist in the metro-Detroit area; he’s had that dubious distinction thrust upon him.

            Bourgeau was ticketed for displaying an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Downtown Pontiac titled “Fear No Art: The Politics of Correctness.”  Ironically, the exhibit featured reproductions of pieces of art that had been accused of being “obscene.”  Bourgeau presented these paintings and photographs in a different setting, arranging them in a collage as if they were hanging in a locker, or bedroom.

            Last March, the City of Pontiac dismissed as misdemeanor charge against Bourgeau for displaying the “obscene materials.”

            According to Bourgeau, the police took Polaroid photographs of works they considered the most “obscene,” and gave him the citation.

            The case received media coverage all over the world, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stepped in to defend Bourgeau.

            At a hearing at 50^th District Court in Pontiac on June 28, the charge was dropped.

            “That was a surprise,” Bourgeau said.  “The city said although they believed the images were obscene – and so, on record, they are still considered that – since I went so far to cover the windows and move the show upstairs…I don’t know where they got that one…that I showed that I was trying to protect the public from this offensive material, and so the charges shouldn’t be dropped.”

            This wasn’t Bourgeau’s first run-in with adversity in displaying controversial art.

            In November of 1999, the DIA hired Bourgeau to produce a 12-part series of exhibits about art in the 20^th century, which he titled “Art Until Now.”  The first installment of the series, “Van Gogh’s Ear,” opened November 17^th and included pieces that referenced or imitated famous controversial pieces.

            Included in the exhibit was the piece “Bathtub Jesus,” which referenced Andres Serrano’s “Piss Christ.”  “Bathtub Jesus” features an anatomically correct “male baby doll with a condom.”

            Another exhibit in “Art until Now” imitated the art of Piero Manzoni, an artist known for canning the excrement of other artists and putting it on display.  The piece, entitled “Self Portrait,” consisted of a piece of fake dung bought by Bourgeau at a local Gag’s and Gifts store and was displayed underneath two glass jars.

            On November 19^th, two days after “Van Gogh’s Ear” opened, it was closed by the DIA.  According to Bourgeau, the museum particulary objected to the exhibition of “Bathtub Jesus” and another exhibit with a racial slur in the title.

            Bourgeau said that the closing of an exhibit after it opens is unheard of in the art community.  He said that, traditionally, a museum reviews an exhibit, and decides if each piece of it is good enough to show.

            “But once it’s up, it’s up,” he said.

            “(I was told) they wanted to postpone, and that (the DIA) wanted to edit and modify the show.  They said ‘postpone,’ I heard ‘shutdown.’  They said ‘edit and modify,’ I heard ‘censor,’” Bourgeau said.

            “Though it has a wing for contemporary art, the DIA has always had a reputation as an institution more suited to traditional art.  The DIA is an encyclopedic museum.  It waits for years until a piece is deemed ‘art,’ and then catalogues it,” said Bourgeau.

            Bourgeau also said this practice could sacrifice contemporary art’s immediacy.

            “Art has always been a mirror held up of its culture, and if you wait to see if an object is art, it’s meaning will be lost.”

            Bourgeau also warns of the “Disney-fixation” of large art museums. 

            “It’s economics,” he said.  “Museums try to draw as many people as possible and attract a broad audience.  That’s not bad but if you try to play to everyone, you simplify the art, and it dummies it down,” said Bourgeau.

            With his faith in the art community shaken, Bourgeau left the DIA. 

            “It scares me more than the Pontiac incident.  You expect fines for obscenity, that happens every day.  But it was much more scary to see the art community censor itself.”

            Bourgeau received a settlement of $8,000 from the DIA over the “Van Gogh’s Ear” incident.

            “I didn’t know what to do with the money, really,” he said. The DIA money quickly became “seed money” for the MoNA. “It’s funny how things work out,” he said.

            Goody believes people can expect great things out of MoNA and Bourgeau if the money holds out. “It’s going to cost thousands of dollars to keep (the MoNA) going, but if Bourgeau’s got the money, he’s going to put on several exciting shows,” said Goody.