No Love in Loveland

Once again, a desecration in the art world has taken place.  According to several news sources, Kathleen Folden of Montana took a crowbar into the Loveland Museum Gallery and broke the glass on a multi-panel artwork by Enrique Chagoya.  After ripping one of the panels and yelling, "how can you desecrate my Lord!", she was stopped from making further damage to the work and later charged with criminal mischief.  The Community of Loveland Colorado, in support at a city council meeting, will not be removing any of the work in the Gallery.  Enrique Chagoya said of the incident, "....I'm not trying to offend anybody."

Sadly, this is an all to often occurrence.  Once artworks are admitted into an art world institution, no questions of authenticity or validity are raised; is this art?  All we can say, of already institutionalized works are if they are good art or bad, qualitatively.  As an art professor, Enrique Chagoya should be aware of the problems inherent with using religious symbols and icons.  One of the most fundamental of ethical concerns for an artist must be his or her respect for the viewer and all the possible responses their work will illicit.  It is not unreasonable to assume someone would be offended by a work depicting Jesus in a sex act with the word orgasm above his head. 

I defend Chagoya's right to explore his relationship with Catholicism in the myriad of forms and media available to him, as an artist.  As a teacher, he has validated the creation of work that is offensive.  The meaning of our work is the response we get from the viewer.  And while it is possible to veil or mislead the viewer, the use of text is only meant to cement the artist's true intent, and is sometimes the tool of those without the skills to produce meaning without misinterpretation.  Students should make mistakes in school, learn how to push the envelope and stretch the perimeter limits of what art is.  School is also the place to put ethics into practice and put empathy to the test.  We are the work we create, every work an example of what we believe and who we are.  It is a self-portrait.  On some level, I think Chagoya meant this work to offensive.  How could he not, using religion as a theme?  With this in mind, he should not be surprised with the reaction of Kathleen Folden.  I'm not.