Article published March 21, 2009
BGSU art exhibit closed in protest
Prof slams censorship
By TAHREE LANE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
HURON, Ohio — The Little Gallery at Bowling Green State University’s Firelands campus has been shuttered in a protest of censorship after one of 13 small sculptures was taken from its pedestal by a dean without the gallery director’s knowledge.
“We removed a sculpture that graphically depicts a female middle school student, on her knees, performing oral sex on a standing male middle school science teacher,” the university wrote in response to the flap. “As an institution of higher education, Bowling Green State University strongly supports the right of free speech and artistic expression. However, we also have a responsibility … to not expose the children and families we invite to our campus to inappropriate material.”
David Sapp, art professor at the campus in Huron and 15-year director of the gallery, was stunned when the piece by Pennsylvania artist James Parlin, valued at $6,000, was taken Wednesday and placed in a closet. That evening, Mr. Sapp put the remaining pieces from the exhibit in storage.
“Consider if this same scene was in a book and was required reading. If someone complained, should we rip out the passage because it’s not pleasant to read or talk about?” Mr. Sapp asked.
Mr. Parlin’s painted aluminum figures in the series, about 13 to 17 inches tall, are a cartoonish collection of “snapshots” from his life and that of family, friends, and acquaintances, among them Bobbie put a gun in her mouth and John put his head in the oven.
Mr. Parlin, an art professor at Edinboro University, has an undergraduate degree in religious thought and a master’s in fine art specializing in sculpture.
“Not understanding metaphor makes art a foreign language to the viewer,” he said, noting that the man in the piece entitled The Middle School Science Teacher Makes a Decision He’ll Live to Regret is based on the father of children his own children knew.
“I was … struck by how something could have such sway over a person, knowing that it would ruin his life [to commit the act] but would go ahead and do it anyway. Is there such a thing as a compulsion that overcomes freedom? To me, this is kind of the crux of our moral lives,” he said.
The series and its pieces have been exhibited in other venues without complaint, he said.
Contact Tahree Lane at:tlane@theblade.comor 419-724-6075.
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