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Tanya Batura Domesticated Pleasures November 12 - 28 1999 Friday, November 12 1999 Panel Discussion 5:30 - 7:00 Opening Reception 7:00 - 8:30 In conjunction with the opening of "Domesticated Pleasures," Real Art Ways will host a public forum on Govenment Funding of the Arts. City Councilman Mike McGarry Michael Wilson, Artistic Director of The Hartford Stage Joe Grabarz, Executive Director of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union Laurence Cohen of the Hartford Courant & Will K. Wilkins, Director of Real Art Ways as moderator. |
[ Domesticated Pleasures ] Domesticated Pleasures was cancelled by the city-run Pump House Gallery in Bushnell Park after being deemed offensive by city Councilman Mike McGarry and others. It was picked up by Real Art Ways in an attempt to provide an arena for discourse regarding the government’s role in the arts and how much control is appropriate in a government funded facility. Ms. Batura’s work, objects made of clay, leather, and cloth and based on organic shapes, has not been seen by those at the heart of the controversy, whose objections have been based on the description of her work in a city press release. as well as a selection of New York Times and Hartford Courant coverage. Or, return to the main Visual Arts Page Batura says, "The majority of my work focuses on sexuality and objectification of the body. I confront the viewer with imagery that provokes repulsion, humor, titillation, or embarrassment. ...I am using the body as a template and combining it with familiar, household materials. The resulting domesticated objects stand somewhere between the utilitarian and the ridiculous." in City Gallery Next to City Playground Mike Allen - New York Times October 1, 1999 It may not have the cultural or political wattage of New York City, but Hartford has touched off its own tussle over taste and publicly financed art. Hartford officials, prompted by complaints from more than a dozen citizens and a member of City Council, have postponed a sexually charged exhibit that was scheduled to open on Oct. 21 in a city gallery, in a city park, next to a city playground. The centerpiece of the exhibit, "Domesticated Pleasures," is a set of seven ceramic sexual devices, one for each day of the week. "It's sort of like a calendar," said the artist, Tanya Batura. But many callers to City Hall said yesterday that they found it more like pornography. They compared Miss Batura's show to the exhibition scheduled to open tomorrow at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has condemned that exhibit as disgusting and sacrilegious and has threatened to withdraw city funds for the museum. So far, the response in the Connecticut capital has been more measured. City officials are debating whether the installation should be put in a city space that is less accessible to children. "It's not censorship," said Patricia M. Williams, a Deputy City Manager. "The community has spoken, and we're not making an judgment until we have a dialogue about an alternate location." But the officials are not exactly sure what they are debating. Miss Batura, 24, is still at work in her gallery in Helena, Mont., and does not plan to ship her work until Oct. 12. She said the sexual devices "will be reclining -- laid out on a velvet pillow." She also plans three quilts of leather and satin, and a clothesline hung with seven handmade leather gloves -- one for each sexual device -- and two leather aprons. "Everything will be either black or pink," she said. That would include the porcelain bowls and plates, adorned with what she called "abstract breasts and nonobjective penises." The exhibit was to be on display until Dec. 3 at the Pump House Gallery, which is in Bushnell Park, adjacent to the Capitol. The brouhaha was touched off by a city news release this week that quoted Miss Batura as saying: "The majority of my work focuses on sexuality and objectification of the body. I confront the viewer with imagery that provokes repulsion, humor, titillation or embarrassment." Councilman Michael T. McGarry complained that city property should not be used for such a display. "To put it in the middle of a park that we're promoting as a children's destination or family destination is ludicrous," he said. Eric M. Weiss - Hartford Courant October 7, 1999 City officials decided Wednesday to yank a controversial art exhibit planned for the Pump House Gallery in Bushnell Park, but said they would work to find another venue in the city. The exhibit, "Domesticated Pleasures" by artist Tanya Batura, was scheduled to open Oct. 21, but was derailed after complaints by politicians and some residents who thought the show too sexually provocative. The small, city-run gallery is next to a playground. City officials agreed, telling a gallery advisory committee Wednesday that they had decided against hosting an exhibition that might offend some in the community or require them to restrict the audience to adults only. "This is not a question of if the art should be shown, but where," said Deputy City Manager Pat Williams, who with city Human Relations Director Ramon Rojano made the decision to abort the Pump House show. Rojano's department oversees the Pump House. "This is not a plebiscite on Hartford's support for the arts," Williams said. Batura, reached at her Montana studio, said she was disappointed with the decision, but determined to continue making her art her way. "I'm disappointed that they bothered to put up a front these past two weeks instead of just saying 'no' straight out," she said. ``But no number of closed-minded people are going to tell me what to do or not to do."Batura, 24, works with leather and ceramic to form sculptures that can be interpreted as representing sexual organs. City Councilman Michael T. McGarry, the most visible opponent of the exhibit, said Wednesday he was satisfied with the decision. "My suggestion from day one was to move it to an appropriate place," McGarry said. Some panel members said they were upset over the city's treatment of Batura, the gallery and the city arts community. "We made promises to the artist that we would show it and show it here," said Carol Davis, a panel member. "Moving it would be like putting it into the closet." Others said city officials were overreacting. "While some of her work was suggestive, I didn't find it appalling or explicit," said Lonnie Black, a member of the commission who has seen some of Batura's other work. Neither Williams nor Rojano have actually seen the artwork proposed for the show. The decision was based on community opposition to the prospect of a sexually provocative show, they said. They said they will look for a new venue in the city and use the $1,000 that had been set aside for Batura's Pump House show for the new venue. "What we're dealing with is a public controversy over a press release about the show," Rojano said. "And apparently nobody has seen anything." During the contentious 90-minute meeting with the advisory committee Wednesday, a photocopy of a photograph from last Sunday's Courant was the only example available of Batura's work that had been planned for her exhibit. "I can't believe that we are supposed to sit here and make a decision when we don't know what we're deciding on,'' said Diann Cook, a panel member. Other panel members said they understand that a museum run by a government plays by different rules than private galleries, such as Real Art Ways, where Batura's work has been shown. In some ways, the controversy has been a boon to the quiet gallery on the edge of Bushnell Park. "Now people will know about the Pump House," said Gail Rose, the advisory panel's chairwoman. "This put us on the map." Eric M.Weiss - Hartford Courant October 12, 1999 Tanya Batura's sexually charged artwork will be seen in Hartford, despite the city's decision last week to cancel her show at a city-run gallery in Bushnell Park. Real Art Ways, a private, contemporary art gallery in the city's Parkville neighborhood, has agreed to show "Domesticated Pleasures'' from Nov. 12 through Nov. 28. "We're doing this for the artist and for everyone who is embarrassed by how she has been treated," said Will K. Wilkins, executive director of the gallery. City officials yanked Batura's show after a councilman and others complained that Batura's sexually suggestive artwork would be inappropriate for Bushnell Park's Pump House Gallery, which is next to a playground. One of the pieces that Batura had created for the show was a set of seven ceramic dildoes labeled for the days of the week. Officials decided to cancel the show - which was scheduled to open Oct. 21 - without seeing any of the art Batura planned to display. Wilkins said Real Art Ways decided to take the show as a statement on artistic freedom, not to help the city, which he said had broken a promise to Batura."This is not a purely aesthetic decision," said Wilkins, who has not seen any of Batura's art that will be shown. "Our main criterion is artistic quality. But our mission also goes beyond presenting art, to furthering a dialogue in the city." Wilkins said that as part of the opening reception, there will be a public forum on artistic expression and government funding. He said Councilman Michael T. McGarry, who has called Batura's art "pornographic," has agreed to participate. Wilkins hopes to get panelists from all sides of the debate to join in. He said there remains a need for broad discussion of the issue. "The public dialogue cut off as soon as the name-calling began," Wilkins said. Mayor Michael P. Peters, when told that Real Art Ways would host the show, said, "That's fantastic." Peters had agreed with critics that the Batura show didn't belong in the Pump House Gallery. "Real Art Ways is not within the mainstream and exactly where this show belongs." Return to the main Visual Arts Page |