Art, religion aren't always best friends

Twenty years ago, Brigham Young University landed a prized exhibit by renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The university, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, chose not to show four of the pieces, including Rodin’s famous “The Kiss.”

The four pieces were nudes.

“We have felt that the nature of those works are such that the viewer will be concentrating on them in a way that is not good for us,” Campbell Gray, director of the BYU Museum of Art, explained to The Washington Post back then.

Fast forward two decades and 730 miles. Acknowledging right up front that Chris Riccardo, talented as he might be, is no Rodin, and that Riccardo’s piece “Our Lady of G and Me” won’t easily be confused with “The Kiss,” there are some stark similarities in negative reactions to these works of art. But in one case, an institution chose censorship. In the other, public display.

Several of Rodin’s pieces were stored away by BYU until the traveling exhibit moved on. At Art Spirit Gallery in downtown Coeur d’Alene, owner Blair Williams is steadfast in keeping “Our Lady of G and Me” displayed prominently in its 32 inches of clay glory or gory, depending upon your religious or artistic points of view. The sculpture depicts Our Lady of Guadalupe in the style of the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday remembering and celebrating those who have died. Several local Catholics have asked for its removal, telling Williams they perceive it as blasphemous.

Art and controversy go together if the art has any value at all. Remember six years ago in downtown Coeur d’Alene when a city-sponsored sculpture of Ganesh drew public fire that included a petition drive demanding its removal, launched by a church? According to the petition, the symbol of Ganesh was too similar to the swastika, the elephant’s trunk depicted a phallic symbol, and the weapons in the statue’s hands represented tools used to put fear in Hindu followers to the “gods who control their lives.”

You don’t have to be The Thinker to recognize the thread of religion weaving through these arguments over art. In the case of “Our Lady of G and Me,” what’s a little harder to understand is, why now? This is the sixth time it’s been displayed at Art Spirit, but the first that’s been protested.

Gallery owner Williams has every right to stand by her artist and his work. Those who don’t like it are perfectly within their rights to express their opinions to Williams. They also have options.

One is to not look at it when they pass by. Another is to purchase the sculpture, then do with it what they will. Seeing as how this is Round 6 of “Our Lady of G and Me” meeting the public, maybe the price is negotiable.