Detroit News - November 1999

By: Joy Hakanson Colby

In his first official act since taking over as director of the Detroit Institute of Arts two months ago, Graham Beal locked the doors Friday of an exhibition that opened Wednesday and would close tomorrow, charging that it "may cause offense to important parts of our community."

Detroit artist Jef Bourgeau, who conceived the show, Art Until Now, refused to discuss changes, calling the director’s decision "censorship."

"I reluctantly decided to postpone the exhibition for further discussions with the artist," Beal wrote in an official statement Friday, then left the museum, pleading illness.

The show had been scheduled as a series of 12 one-week installations that explore the course of 20^th century art.

"I intended to give a sense of the whimsical nature of current art fashion, the speed of careers made and spent and the literal ups and downs in art movements," Bourgeau says.

The first installment, called Van Gogh’s Ear, contains references to past art world controversies. The exhibits include a vial of urine from Andres Serrano’s photograph of a submerged crucifix, a Bathtub Jesus with a doll wearing a condom and a video of British artist Tracey Emin in a menstruation ritual.

"The 12 shows would have covered everything good, bad and ugly that happened during this century," Bourgeau says. "I’m playing with ideas about provocative art drawn from our culture."

The artist says he’d rather close the show altogether than make changes. "It’s a slap in the face, it’s telling the artist to have second-thoughts."

"It’s a bad situation for everyone," says Annmarie Erickson, DIA spokeswoman. "The museum has a responsibility to the artist and an even greater responsibility to the public."

Bourgeau’s show had been planned long before Beal’s arrival. "We’ve been talking about it for two years," says 20^th century art curator MaryAnn Wilkinson. "I approached Jef as an installation artist, as someone who thinks about art issues at the end of the century."

Jan van der Marck, former chief curator at the DIA and now a museum adviser, says Bourgeau’s show "would have enlightened the public and made difficult issues something people could understand."