Artwork depicting nude couples is removed from gallery after building owner objects to the gay.

[Bluebear]

The owner of the building that houses Two Wall Gallery abruptly removed several works in the gallery's latest show last week, prompting an outcry from the artists, the curator and other members of the Island's arts community.

Louise Rice, who owns the property along with her husband Ray Rice and daughter Wendy Rice, paid a visit to the building with her daughter last Tuesday morning and became upset after viewing "Go Figure: Body of Work," a group show by eight artists that contains numerous nude portraits.

"It was pornography, and I won’t put up with it,” Rice said later from her Burien home. “It’s our hallway, and my husband and daughter and I don’t like it.” But Jack Strubbe, the show's curator who has mounted exhibits off and on for the past three years in the space, said he was baffled by Rice's actions, especially since the gallery has been the site of many other exhibits with political and other controversial content. “She has never expressed anything like this in the past, and I’ve had work that I’ve considered much riskier than this,” he said.

Ray Rice said that one of the reasons his wife removed Davila's works was because of their depictions of gay couples. "The entire homosexual content was part of it," he said. "We have a right to critique what goes on in the building." Ray added that he and his wife, who are both in their 80s, "have nothing against gay people." "They can do whatever they want to do, but Louise didn't think it was appropriate to show the homosexuals doing their thing in the building, and that's her prerogative," he said. The family no longer wants Strubbe to have anything to do with the gallery, Louise Rice added. “I don’t want him doing the art in the hall,” she said. “He’s too far out.”

http://www.seattlepi.com/sound/435833_sound116511483.html

[Dappleganger]

1. Remove all the art...

give it to someone who can at least recognize it. Obviously that woman hasn't a clue what art is.

[Obamanaut]

9. "Obviously that woman hasn't a clue what art is." Or maybe she does, and

her definition is not the same as that of her neighbor.

Someone said of collectors of things "One man's trash is another man's treasure." And there is "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

[Lyric]

2. They talk about us like we're beasts.

Like we're less than human. "We don't want to see The Homosexuals...but we have nothing against them." Sounds like my bigoted Aunt going on about how she didn't mind that her neighbors were breeding their Dobermans, but she didn't want to see The Dogs doing their thing from her backyard patio.

And how many people will excuse this behavior because "they're old"? "They're set in their ways". "They're from a different time." Like that should be enough to make us hush up our complaints about people who refuse to recognize even our most basic humanity.

[Bluebear]

3. The gallery owner should sue the shit out of The Bigot

If he rents space there and she went in and removed art, I would think he has a good suit. That said, I wouldn't want to pay her another thin dime for rent.

[EFerrari]

4. Good luck trying to get teh gay out of your art, lady.

:rofl:

[IGoToDU]

5. OMG!

I hate when stuff like this happens!!! Many years ago in a
small town near our hometown my brother and his friend entered
photos into a juried exhibition and the night before the
public opening the building janitor noticed the prizewinners'
entries (belonging to my bro and his friend), decided they
were offensive, brought ppl from his church in who also
complained, and had their work removed. Before anyone in the
public had a chance to see it!!! Luckily, the ACLU came in to
help, my bro and his friend regained their prizes and public
mention..of course, well after the exhibit ended. GRRR...this
sh*t makes me mad.:grr:  

[http://www.cafepress.com/fearnoart.507000749]

[Bluebear]

7. Heya....

welcome to DU!!!

[freeplessinseattle]

6. Some freaked about clothed oh so gay pics in the state Capital

building lobby some years ago. Of couples and singles, friends and family. It was really scary to them to see pics of gay people "doing their thing" and being not only accepted but honored by the gov't that belongs to people like them, not "the other".

[Solly Mack]

8. K&R