• Artistic Collapse

    Artistic Collapse

    David Wojnarowicz’s, “A Fire in my Belly,” was recently pulled from an exhibition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery not because it was poor art, but because it was found to be offensive. Blake Gopnik (Washington Post) thinks art should make us think. And to do that it may have to cause a “little offense.”Eric Felten (WSJ) points out that art which is designed to shock, like the piece in question (“A Fire in my Belly” depicts the a crucifix crawling with ants), is no longer shocking, but boring. Many issues are at play in the discussion–censorship, religious tolerance, economics, public funds–but there is precious little mention in the debate…