I have to disagree with the art critic Benjamin Genocchio concerning the Bill Henson controversy in Australia. In my opinion, Genocchio made some poor choices in his recent article about the steps that the photographer has taken in order to avoid a similar controversy at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York. The exhibit is Henson’s first exhibit since his troubles in Sydney. Apparently the artist has decided against showing some of his more graphic nude images of young teens. Instead, the Bill Henson exhibit at Robert Miller Gallery is set up more like a mini-retrospective displaying examples of his work from the last decade.
Benjamin Genocchio is apparently disappointed by Henson’s decision to censor himself. In the article he stated that Henson’s work exploring early teenage sexuality is not “all that controversial”. The art critic went on to say that teenage sexuality, “exists, get over it, let’s move on”. Apparently Mr. Genocchio is not aware that part of the Bill Henson controversy in Australia is connected to the fact that the photographer had toured, some have described it as “prowled”, a
school in order to find potential models for his future work. The news of Henson’s visit to the school-- which was supervised by the former principal of the school-- outraged some parents and alarmed the Australian academic community. Not mentioning that aspect of the controversy was the first poor choice that Genocchio made in reporting about Henson.
In his article Genocchio mentioned a recent exhibit of Andres Serrano’s work at the gallery involving
feces . I can only assume that the art critic mentioned Serrano’s work in order to defend the validity of Bill Henson’s practice and to project the idea that people should have been more outraged at the Serrano exhibit than Henson‘s current exhibit at the gallery. There is a difference that the art critic is missing that is at the root of this controversy. To put it bluntly, Serrano used his own feces-- he did not visit a school in order to observe fecal matter in student restrooms.
Genocchio then compared the recent Bill Henson controversy to the controversy that involved the late Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs of graphic homosexual sex that had been exhibited at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center in 1990, which resulted in an obscenity trial. Again, there is a difference that the art critic is missing. Mapplethorpe’s photographs did not involve touring schools without the knowledge of parents in order to discover potential models amongst children.
Henson has stated that if he observes a child of interest he will contact the parents of the child in order to ask permission to photograph the child nude. The artist has went on to say that some parents refuse while others are thrilled to see their children involved with his work. Perhaps Bill Henson should allow parents to contact him instead of visiting schools in search of potential models? Perhaps Bill Henson should reveal documentation that proves that he has had parental permission for every young nude model that he has photographed due to the information that has been exposed in Australia? Is it wrong for parents to allow their children to be photographed in the nude? Maybe. I’m sure these questions will continue to be debated as they should be.
I suppose the choice of being photographed by Henson is up to the children and their parents to decide. That is the key issue over this controversy-- choice. The parents who have children at that school should have been aware of Henson’s visit. They should have been allowed to make a choice about the issue. Bill Henson is a world renowned photographer, but that does not mean his practice is above concern nor does it mean that his practice is above the choice of parents in issues involving their children. Especially when one considers the times in which we live. In my opinion, Benjamin Genocchio made some bad choices in his article by not mentioning these issues.
For those who don’t know, Benjamin Genocchio is a former chief art critic for The Australian and is currently an art critic for the New York Times.
Apparently the cover art for a video game titled Left 4 Dead has been censored outside of the United States. Left 4 Dead is a survival horror first-person shooter that follows the story of four survivors of an apocalyptic pandemic. In other words, the Left 4 Dead game borrows heavily from George Romero’s classic film, Night of the Living Dead.
