Detroit News   July 1997

‘Naked’ asks us to go beyond labels in the 90’s

by Joy Hakanson Colby

            Depictions of sex, fetishism, mutilation, various perversions and such – all neatly framed and matted – make up Naked in the Nineties at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Pontiac. 

            Given its contents, the exhibition ought to be a shocker.  Instead the collection on the walls raises questions about prevailing tendencies in the visual arts and how long they can be expected to continue. 

            The exhibit was created by Jef Bourgeau, Metro Detroit’s most innovative video and installation artist, who has a flair for satire.  He’s also the director, chief curator and artist-in-residence at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

            Rather than original material, he used cuttings from art publications.  Thus the collection of smallish images comes across as discreet rather than blatant.

            What’s happening in art during the 1990’s can’t take a blanket label like “eroticism” or “pornography,” Bourgeau is convinced.  Of course both tendencies have been in evidence, particularly in photography.

            Don’t forget that Robert Mapplethorpe, with his homoerotic photographs, and Andres Serrano, with his photo of the Crucifix submerged in urine and titled Piss Christ, triggered the culture wars of the late 1980s.  They were the poster boys who caused archconservative Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and his ilk to declare war on the National Endowment for the Arts for funding what the legislators deemed “obscene and indecent” art.

            Helms is directly responsible for the wave of sex, fetishism, etc., that has washed over the art world during the last decade.  The senator raised issues of censorships, infuriating artists and causing them to respond with ever more outrageous images.

            Where can they go from here?  That’s the questions Naked in the Nineties asks.

            The fact that Bourgeau took his images from magazines makes his show a documentary.  Cuttings follow the trends of the 1990s, along with giving historical precedents.  They also raise questions about who determines what art is and isn’t. Is it curators?  Or collectors, critics, artists?

            Those who rate artists by the abundance of their publicity might consider Jeff Koons a pivotal figure in 20^th century art.  That reputation would rest on the sex show he did several years ago with his wife, an Italian porn queen, who was elected to her country’s parliament.

            Then, in 1992, Cindy Sherman, a feminist photographer, did her sex series as a reaction to Koons’ efforts.

            Sherman’s images are included in Bourgeau’s show, as are those of lesbian photographer Catherine Opie, who goes in for mutilation by etching a drawing on her back in blood.  Japanese photographer Araki is making a name in this country for his studies of young girls in bondages.

            Some of the other contemporary artists represented are Sally Mann, with nude studies of her young daughter; Jake and Dinos Chapman, with their take on body orifices; Paul McCarthy, with Mrs. Tomato Head; Kiki Smith, with Glass Sperm; Nicole Eisenman, with Model Slut; and Kara Walker, with The End of Uncle Tom. 

            Also included in the show are historical forerunners of the current generation of artists, such as Surrealist Han Bellmer, with his horrendous doll that hooks together in various ways, and E.J. Bellocq who photographed women in brothels.  Also on the walls are classic images by Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst and Magritte.

            Several video pieces by Bourgeau add to the show.  Look for the mannequin’s hand holding a tiny monitor showing a porn flick and the cat carrier with Picasso’s eyes flashing.

            As for viewer reaction, Bourgeau says women ask more questions about the show and relate images to their own life experiences.  Men tend to be noncommittal.