Sean Johnson´s art project has drawn attention in the Fine Arts Center building.

Student's photography center of controversy

By: Michael Gagne

Posted: 4/22/03

4/22/03 - At least one series of photographs in the un-juried exhibit of student artwork Space Invasion, that opened last week in the University of Rhode Island Fine Arts Building, has drawn controversy and more than a few gasps.

The four-part untitled silver gelatin print series, suspended at angles from the ceiling in the art department wing of the building, depicts a man masturbating against a backdrop of gay pornography. The work, produced by junior studio art major Sean Johnson, has drawn praise, criticism and outright hatred.

Johnson, who is concentrating on photography, said the point of displaying the piece was to generate discussion, and gather information, and gauge how accepted homosexuality is on campus.

It's less about the actual artwork itself, and more about the feedback students and faculty members leave in the mural board he said.

"The point is for people to write comments," Johnson said. "Of course, you're going to get hate, you're going to get praise. It's just a gathering of information."

The feedback is mixed. And some of it attacks Johnson, instead of the artwork.

One student, impressed by the work, wrote: "Ballsy... literally."

Others found the murals offensive and commented. "The statue of David is art, this is porno; I don't want to see your dick."

Other messages resembled restroom stall graffiti. "I think I saw those pictures the other day, at www.asspackers.com," one said.

Exploring human sexuality is widespread in the visual arts, the exhibit's curators said.

"It's not uncommon subject matter," said co-curator Cat Ganim, referring to artists like painter Georgia O'Keefe and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

Subject matter aside, Johnson's exhibit was expensive and time-consuming to produce. Each photo, roughly 40-by-32 inches, took more than an hour to develop and cost more than $30, Johnson said. The moralizing process produced a smoky quality in each image. And how the images were angled when hung from the ceiling was also important.

Johnson, who has explored male sexuality in previous works, said his instructors "are really supportive."

"My teachers know my work," he said.

But some viewers just can't get past the sight of an erect penis.

"I've had people literally gasp for breath when they see it," co-curator Kirk Snow said.

Students and faculty members from the Music Department across the hall have complained that concertgoers, who include young children, will find the display's portrayed act offensive.

It's controversial, in part, because the image of a nude male is not as widely accepted as that of a nude female, and this is because Christian Caucasian males have dominated American society, Johnson said. "It is a nude," he said, "and you can't see a nude as a beautiful thing."

"It's not a feminist point-of-view," Ganim said. "It's a fact."

But the penis isn't the only reason. Some viewers simply lack the patience to consider its artistic value, Johnson said.

"A lot of people don't have the patience to analyze what's in front of them," he said.

The gay lifestyle is generally tolerated but still not really accepted, Johnson said. He sought to educate viewers through the work. "Education is sharing knowledge to each other," he said, "to share other people."

Johnson's work is just one piece in a series of about three dozen student works displayed in an exhibit that opened to counter the Annual Juried Student Exhibit in the Fine Arts Main Gallery. The curators felt the Juried Exhibit didn't accurately represent the work produced by art students, and asked for space to freely exhibit.

"[The display] merely exhibits what we've been working on," Johnson said.

Space Invasion will continue for another couple of weeks until May 9.