Artist Agrees to Modify Controversial Mural

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From ArtForum:

Following backlash from community groups, Brooklyn artist Beau Stanton has offered to make changes to the mural of American actress Ava Gardner he painted on the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex two years ago. The work, which features a profile of Gardner’s bust overlaid with palm trees and set against a blue-and-orange backdrop that evokes the rays of the sun, drew criticism from Korean Americans and the Wilshire Community Coalition, who claim that the rays are too similar to Japan’s Rising Sun flag, which is viewed as a symbol of the war crimes the Japanese military committed during World War II.

After numerous arts professionals of the Korea diaspora called for the work to be removed or altered . . . the Los Angeles Unified School District . . . announced it would paint over the mural in December 2018. The move sparked an outcry from artists and Los Angeles residents who don’t have objections to the piece and led to a debate about censorship. Those who came to the mural’s defense include Shepard Fairey, who claimed he would remove his own mural from the campus if the school destroyed Stanton’s.

On Wednesday, Stanton revealed that he agreed to modify the piece. “These interactions have allowed me to synthesize a solution that aims to rise above the original binary conversation of ‘keep or remove the mural’ in order to build upon the original work and create something that speaks to the past, present, and future of the RFK campus,” he told the Los Angeles Times. The compromise allows the artist to revisit his vision for the work while he makes changes in order to be sensitive to the activists who find it offensive.

The district has allotted around $20,000 to fund the additional work on the piece.

Link to the rest at ArtForum

Here’s a photo of the mural in question that also shows parts of the school that are not included in the mural:

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As mentioned in the OP, the school where the mural was painted is named after Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated at this location, formerly the site of The Ambassador Hotel. Kennedy was shot and killed in the kitchen of the hotel in 1968. The hotel was closed in 1989 and demolished in 2005-2006 after its purchase by the School District.

Here’s more from the Los Angeles Times:

Earlier this month, L.A. Unified announced its decision to paint over the mural after the Korean group pronounced the background as offensive as a swastika and threatened legal action.

The mural’s artist, Beau Stanton, has denied any connection between his artwork and the battle flag. The rays on the flag differ in number, thickness and color.

The leader of the Korean group, Chan Yong “Jake” Jeong, said he does not challenge Stanton’s good intentions, but his group still wants the mural gone.

. . . .

“As a result of the extensive input, there is a need to have additional conversation,” Eugene Hernandez, administrator of operations for that part of the school system, said Monday. “Therefore, we will not be taking immediate action on the mural at this time.”

Last week, Hernandez defended painting over the mural, saying that schools belong to the community, which should be able to determine whether such works are appropriate.

But since then district officials have heard from a wider swath of community. Some teachers at RFK have stepped forward to say that the views of faculty and students were never considered.

. . . .

“My father was sympathetic to cultural sensitivities,” [Robert F.] Kennedy said. “But he understood that the central bedrock tenets of American democracy are freedom of speech and expression. As fiercely as they supported tolerance, and diversity, my father and my uncle loathed censorship. . . .

“My father and uncles considered people who destroyed art in the service of political agendas as the worst sort of scoundrels,” he wrote. “There is so much reprehensible and irrational about this scheme that one could write a thesis enumerating the idiotic flaws that catacomb the shallow arguments in its favor.”

. . . .

The district possibly has another problem related to the mural. As of midday, officials had been unable to locate releases from the artists.

It is district policy to obtain such releases, which give L.A. Unified full control over the artwork, General Counsel David Holmquist said. If the district cannot find such paperwork, its options may be more limited.

Even if releases are located, he said, the district will want to give serious consideration to the wishes of the artists.

Stanton said Monday that his attorney has contacted the district, threatening legal action if it proceeded with the plan to paint over the mural.

“We wanted to stay the decision until the other stakeholders had a chance to speak their minds,” he said.

Link to the rest at the Los Angeles Times

PG has written previously about Moral Rights of artists and authors.

The mural described in the OP would seem to be a candidate for protection under The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA), a narrow protection of moral rights for visual artists only.

Prior artists’ victories under VARA have included several suits for damaging graffiti placed on urban buildings in the US.

However, one of the earlier higher profile moral rights lawsuits was over a six-story Los Angeles mural painted on the side of a building owned by the US government. That case resulted in a $1.1 million judgment in favor of the artist.

Under VARA, an artist may waive moral rights, but, according to the OP, apparently there was no waiver with respect to the mural that was almost painted over by the school district.

PG will also note that World War II ended with the defeat of Japan 74 years ago.

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East was convened from 1946-48 to try Japanese war crimes committed during World War II.

Twenty-nine Japanese military and political leaders were charged with 55 separate counts encompassing the waging of aggressive war, murder and conventional war crimes committed against prisoners-of-war, civilian internees and the inhabitants of occupied territories. The defendants included former prime ministers, former foreign ministers and former military commanders.

The indictment accused the defendants of promoting a scheme of conquest that “contemplated and carried out … murdering, maiming and ill-treating prisoners of war (and) civilian internees … forcing them to labor under inhumane conditions … plundering public and private property, wantonly destroying cities, towns and villages beyond any justification of military necessity; (perpetrating) mass murder, rape, pillage, brigandage, torture and other barbaric cruelties upon the helpless civilian population of the over-run countries.”

All defendants who were tried were convicted of war crimes and received sentences ranging from seven years’ imprisonment to execution. Two defendants died prior to the end of their trials and one was found unfit to stand trial.

See Wikipedia for more information on Japanese war crimes trials.

 

7 thoughts on “Artist Agrees to Modify Controversial Mural”

  1. I oppose the notion of moral rights and believe the VARA has no constitutional basis. The concept of a moral right is French and is un-American. I also believe the US should withdraw from the Berne Convention. But what do I know?

    • The problem with moral rights is it is incompatible with the constitutional basis of US copyright–limited monopoly to stimulate creation–and with property rights. Generally, a sale is a sale, no?

      Unless stipulated upfront, a sale comes with no strings attached. That’s where First Sale Doctrine comes from. Start adding post-sale strings and lots of things fall apart. Including First Sale and Fair Use. Too high a price.

      Anybody concerned about their reputation should just negotiate an Alan Smithee clause.

  2. I clearly do not have an eye for art. That thing gives me a headache every time I look at it. It wouldn’t bother me at all to never see that again because it was painted over. I am entirely too cynical, but I imagine someone thought it was ugly and came up with a reason that would get other people on their side so they could get rid of it.

  3. You can’t offend all of the people all of the time, but at least you can offend some of the people most of the time.

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