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Nude art up, down, back up on a T.O. public wall
Officials deal with complaint plus the issue of censorship
Image courtesy of Rich Brimer.
STORY TOOLS 
More from Conejo ValleyA Simi Valley artist's nude self-portrait was removed from display in a public building in Thousand Oaks this week after questions were raised regarding the appropriate nature of the painting and then returned 24 hours later in a bid to avoid allegations of censorship, officials said.
Rich Brimer had placed his painting — titled "Threshold," which depicts him as Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" against a backdrop of the Italian countryside — in the Galleria at the Conejo Recreation & Park District building on Hillcrest Drive.
It was part of a show featuring the work of artists, including board members of the Arts Council of the Conejo Valley, a nonprofit organization with an office in the Conejo Recreation & Park District building.
"I really wanted to represent a higher caliber of art," said Brimer, speaking after he removed the painting Wednesday at the request of Arts Council President Pat Johnson following a complaint.
"I thought the piece was modest enough to be shown in a public arena," Brimer said.
The Galleria is in a long corridor that runs through the city-owned building, and the works of art on its walls are visible to staff members and visitors as they pass from one part of the building to another.
Johnson said the council had received one letter of complaint from someone visiting the building.
"I could care less, and most adults could care less, but it is a public building," said Johnson. "The curator was supposed to be judicious."
Curator Janet Amira, who declined to be interviewed for this report, was instructed by Johnson to contact Brimer and another artist, Katrin Raab-Questenberg, to remove their works from the exhibit.
Raab-Questenberg had put on display two small triangular shaped bronze sculptures which had drawn complaints from people who said they were "blatant genitalia," Johnson said.
"We want to put out art that stimulates, but when people get upset about it, it's not worth the effort," Johnson said.
Raab-Questenberg could not be reached for comment.
According to Brimer and others at a meeting of the Arts Council on Wednesday night, several members objected to the decision to remove the art because someone didn't like it.
"The curator made the right decision, and we decided to put them back," Johnson said Thursday, explaining the reversal, which came before the sculptures were removed.
She said the council would revisit the issue if it received a formal complaint from the Conejo Recreation & Park District.
Brimer, who has a bachelor's degree in art from California Lutheran University, said that he, as an artist, tries to use his work as social commentary and to stir things up a bit.
"For me, this kind of nude self-portrait is this very personal disclosure, revealing to myself and the world that I have something to say," he said.
His self-portrait as da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" was inspired, he says on his Web site blog — http://www.richbrimer.com/blog — by a trip in March to Assisi, Italy.
"I really don't think it's offensive," he said.
In February, three nudes were pulled from an art exhibit with the theme passion after officials determined the pieces were too racy for a gallery in the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura.
Ventura County Arts Council President Monica Nolan said at the time that it wasn't a case of censorship but of whether the art was appropriate for that particular space. Under a statement of the public gallery's purpose, the art placed there must be "suitably appropriate" for the space to which 3,000 people visit daily.
A decade ago, a similar controversy led the Thousand Oaks City Council to revamp the process by which art was allowed in public buildings, following complaints over paintings of nude models displayed in the Civic Arts Plaza in 1997.
Posted by vagabond on June 14, 2008 at 9:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Greetings,
It would seem that Leonardo himself had no problem with "blatant genitalia"...try this:
http://divertimentodavinci.blogspot.com/
It's called: "Do You See Leonardo da Vinci's Hidden Penis?"
Posted by mtlmolina on June 14, 2008 at 11:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Obscenity laws exist for a reason. Just because someone painted it doesn't mean it should be on display in a public building. It's about public decency not censorship. When will artists stop trying to shock us into looking at their work?
No public place should have nudity on display. Period.
Posted by sparks240 on June 14, 2008 at 7:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The dude has a beer belly and man boobs. Thats why it's obscene.
Posted by qbsurf on June 15, 2008 at 7:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
such art functions as both beautiful object and "small mind detector,' since it wonderfully pulls the small-minded out of their dark caves of hiding. anyone who finds such art offensive or obscene has some serious hypersexual pathologies--if he/she has trouble seeing nudity without finding indecency and obscenity in it, than the fault lies in him/her, not in the artist. the words are "obscenity" laws, not "nudity" laws for a reason--the standard of the law is set so that it forbids public display of things "a reasonable member of society would find obscene." The key word here is reasonable. obviously some people do not possess that key quality. usually they are the ones so ardently trying to control the rest of us.
Posted by penguinville on June 16, 2008 at 2:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
An artist attempts to put his soul onto canvas; like a mirror, the canvas reflects back the heart of those who view it. While some will view two triangular pieces as beautifully sculpted geometric shapes, other will view it as "blatant genitalia". While some will perceive a dandelion as a noxious weed to be eliminated, others will see it as a salad ingredient for nutrition, or a beautiful gift for Mom. Herein lies the magic and the never ending controversy of art. True art should create passion, make people talk, make people think outside of their comfort zone. Otherwise, what is the point?
Posted by artdoc on June 17, 2008 at 8:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
there is a fantastic editorial by Katrin Raab-Questenberg, one of the artists mentioned here regarding this topic... http://www.venturacountystar.com/news...
Posted by iam_caine on June 18, 2008 at 4:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
mtlmolina,
Look up the word PRUDE in your Funk & Wagnalls (you DO own a dictionary, right?). I bet there's a picture of you next to it.
Posted by dragons on June 22, 2008 at 2:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As a fellow artist, I would like to share my wonder and enthusiasm for Rich Brimer's THRESHOLD. The piece is fascinating in its jusxtaposition of Leonardo da Vinci and what I experience as a an intimation of a "Christian" image of the cross. THRESHOLD reveals a deep love of color and image. The fact that Mr. Brimer is nude shows his authentic, vulnerable and passionate nature as an artist and human being. We all need to reveal our true selves and be willing to receive the responses we get from the human beings around us in our community.
Rich Brimer has inspired and created in me an even greater desire to share my art.
Thank you Mr. Brimer
Shalom,
Ray
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