“Large Implements on Hooks”
“Small Implements on Hooks”,
Posted on 07/22/2005 8:08:35 PM PDT by wagglebee
Gov. Bill Owens is weighing in on the debate over an artist given a $5000 state fellowship grant after viewing her work of art depicting sex toys on hooks.
"Obviously, this is offensive and in extremely poor taste," said Governor Owens who couldn't view the piece himself, but had it described to him by staffers. The Governor is in Washington D.C. attending an awards ceremony for the University of Northern Colorado Business School. The artist, Tsehai Johnson of Denver, received a Fellowship from the Colorado Council of the Arts in 2003.
The work originally titled "Twelve [term for specific sex toy] on Hooks" was one of several pieces submitted to the Council by Johnson who was applying for the grant. The work was completed in 2000.
In an interview with 9News, Tsehai Johnson described the piece, "They're meant to be sex toys, but sex toys that are talking about a lot of issues." She had to get the work out of storage to show it to 9News. Johnson changed the title of the piece before submitting the work when applying for the fellowship. She told 9News she changed the title for artistic reasons. "I wanted the title to be a little more open ended so that it didn't become so easily dismissed," she said.
Governor Owens questions the use of state money. "It serves as an important reminder that whenever tax dollars are involved, government must be cautious and prudent," he said in a prepared statement sent to 9News Wednesday morning.
Jon Caldara, President of the Independence Institute agreed with Owens. "It's hard to say we're in a budget crisis when taxpayers are paying for this kind of smut," said Caldara who also has a talk show on radio station KOA. The Independence Institute is a conservative think-tank in Lakewood. The group found the work while researching a book it plans to publish on government waste in Colorado. It has started a "Fraud and Waste Hotline" for Coloradoans to call if they know of similar cases of government waste. The number to call is 303.380.2900.
Elaine Mariner, Executive Director of the Colorado Council on the Arts told 9News, "Frankly, it did shock me and I did find it inappropriate." Mariner was not with the Colorado Council on Arts in 2003 when the prize was awarded. She says the fellowship applicants would submit slides of their work and professional artists would make decisions from looking at the artistic value of those slides. The CCOA council had final approval on the recipient list. The fellowship is no longer available.
Pictures of two of Johnson's works of art, including "Large Implements on Hooks" appeared on the Council's website on Tuesday. By late Wednesday afternoon, the pictures and information on the artist had been taken off the state website.
Ping!
< Standing by for the appearance of the usual suspects. >
Nothing funny about this.
Sounds pretty funny to me.
That's what I pinged Pissant for.
“Small Implements on Hooks”,
He has to question the use of state money, he is a few loads light. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to simply say this is a sad waste of tax money.
Not many people would fail the question he is asking himself. Wake up dumbass!!!
Forget about the artist. Who authorized this payment? And, are they still on the payroll? If so, why?
I didn't know the Clinton Library rented out its exhibits.
DOOR KNOCKER or DOOR KNOCKERS?
http://www.tcnj.edu/~hofmann/humor/Misc/doorknocker.htm
How muuch of a grant would that get them I wonder? lol
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