Whenever the Metropolitan Police force is called to an art gallery to defend our morals, you can be sure that the work they don't want the public to see will be one of the most important in the show.The Telegraph features a partial shot of controversial image. The full photograph is here, The Saatchi Gallery: London Contemporary Art Gallery.
Tate Modern's Pop Life is a fascinating show, but one of the most interesting works in it is the American artist Richard Prince's 1983 work Spiritual America.
It takes the form of a ready-made or found object – a publicity photograph showing the prepubescent actress Brooke Shields naked, her body wet from the bath. What's more, her hair has been elaborately done and she is wearing so much lipstick, mascara and eye shadow that it looks as though the head of a 25-year-old Playmate had been spliced on the body of a child. The original photo was commissioned with the approval of the child's mother who, as her manager, allowed it to be published in the soft porn magazine Sugar n' Spice as a tactic to get her daughter noticed and so further her career.
Above Image Credit: Denver Post.
It does seem that when you scratch an artist of the leftist persuasion you find a pedophile underneath. One would hope this would not be the case. but what with Whoopie, many in the movie business and now this something is a little strange is starting to rear its ugly head.
ReplyDeleteOne might be forgiven for asking "Where was her mother in all of this?"