Councilwoman Hopes Student Art Offends Her Less

Date:

09/28/2000

A controversial exhibit from G-Mart will be relocated in City Hall.

The debate over the proper relationship between art and politics continued yesterday in City Hall as city Council President Anna C. Verna urged Philadelphia officials to consider putting student artwork in cases inside Council offices ahead of more avant-garde works that she considers offensive.

Verna, who met with Commerce Director James Cuorato to discuss the issue, was motivated by the latest in a series of professional works that she has found objectionable. The 3-by-5-foot installation depicts a convenience store with posters advertising "Hot Meat Sticks" and exporting customers to "Shop G-Mart for Fag Cigarettes - Grab a Butt Today."

Verna asked that the work be moved, a request that the curators of the exhibit accepted yesterday.

"We have our colleges right up our nose," Verna said, "Wouldn't it be nice if we could display students' artwork? They would be thrilled."

Cuorato said the city already had a program for displaying student work on the seventh floor of City Hall. The "Art in City Hall" program exhibits professional art works on the second floor outside the mayor's office and on the fourth floor outside Council offices.

Cuorato said he would consider asking the school district to expand its art program and would look into the possibility of putting student art on the fourth floor.

The works on display in the Art in City Hall cases have been a long-standing issue for Verna, who has protested others in the past. Last year, she had a pair of red pajamas - with a pattern of dogs urinating on fire hydrants - moved to the case outside the mayor's office.

Meanwhile, artists from G-Mart, the Old City store that created the convenience-store piece, showed up to protest the moving of their work, which was intended as an ironic commentary on commercialism.

By the end of the day, they had accepted it.

"I think G-Mart feels like they're being moved because of the content, but at this point I don't think G-Mart will take a stronger stance than they have today," said Michele Malin, a spokeswoman for the company.

Hilary Jay, one of the curators of the exhibit, said she did not object to the piece being moved to the second floor because she felt it had a better exhibition there.

"The Council president doesn't want to look at a piece of work that she doesn't find appealing; this is where she spends most of her day, and I don't blame her," Jay said. "That's very simply, as far as I'm concerned, an interior-design decision. The show remains in tact. It's not a censorship issue."

Philadelphia Inquirer (link to site)

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/

Categories: Gmart