This is the time of the year when members of Cincinnati's arts community pat themselves on the back. The annual Fine Arts Fund is unveiled with a lofty goal and Cincinnati's business leaders come forward to express their love for all things artistic and cultural.
Some large-scale arts projects are boosting civic self-esteem: Support continues for a new Contemporary Arts Center (CAC). Plans for a renovated Emery Theatre look brighter. The Regional Cultural and Planning Committee study is near completion. Erich Kunzel's plan for a new School for Creative and Performing Arts campus near Music Hall is gaining momentum. Cincinnati, many local arts supporters say, is on the verge of an arts renaissance.
So the timing is perfect for a gust of outside criticism from a Dayton artist in the January/February 1999 issue of the Columbus-based arts magazine Dialogue. In "Pride and Prejudice? Cincinnati's Conflicted Art Scene," free-lance writer and photographer Virginia Burroughs tackles the most familiar of Cincinnati arts topics: controversy and censorship. Burroughs keeps her focus intentionally lurid, looking at the issues of nudity, perceived pornography and other art that might end up insulting the overall Cincinnati community.
Speaking recently from her Dayton home, Burroughs agrees Cincinnati has a lot to offer. Still, Burroughs isn't about to jump on a rah-rah Cincy bandwagon. Her skepticism is refreshing, especially following in the footsteps of the rose-colored praise that surrounds the Fine Arts Fund. Opening one's corporate checkbook for the "Big Eight" arts institutions won't solve Cincinnati's artistic ills. Burroughs' criticism goes beyond dollars and cents. In her opinion, Cincinnatians need to open their minds to new and different art, not just their wallets.
"There is more to this than just the arts community," says Burroughs. "It has to be something underlying. Arts is affected by the community. It's a reflection of something ingrained in the society and the everyday culture."
Sensitive arts supporters might take issue with Burroughs' skewered timeline. She sums up Cincinnati's recent art history with the 1988 controversy over Andrew Leicester's flying pig sculptures at Bicentennial Commons and the 1990 public furor over the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center. Many in Cincinnati's arts community have long since put the Mapplethorpe controversy behind them. It makes sense to move forward. Certainly most local arts supporters would take exception with the idea that the reaction to Mapplethorpe signifies the local arts scene.
But Burroughs says it's important for local artists to remember the Mapplethorpe controversy and the charges brought against then CAC Director Dennis Barrie. Questions raised nine years ago are still relevant: Are there unspoken rules of conservatism in Cincinnati? What type of art can be displayed in Cincinnati? Which art will sell in Cincinnati? And is this conservative attitude toward art unique to Cincinnati?
There are no easy answers to such far-reaching questions. At a time when local boosters drown in their own rhetoric, Burroughs' put-downs, whether misinformed or not, provide wonderful balance. Speaking to her, it's evident she doesn't have a complete picture of Cincinnati's arts community. She's never been to artist Mark Fox's Camp Washington loft space for a performance at his black box theater. Burroughs has never been inside Brad Smith's Court Street studio to watch his work in erotic photography. The arrival of Semantics Gallery at its new Brighton Corner location is news to her. That's the downside of being an outsider: Small subtle changes occur without your knowledge.
Still, her removal from Cincinnati's close-knit arts community gives Burroughs the freedom to speak her mind. It makes for a refreshing conversation, talking to an artist not worried about offending local funders, politicians and would-be standard bearers of community values. One doesn't need to agree with everything Burroughs says to appreciate her for speaking at all.
