Following condemnatory communication with the Daugavpils municipality, religious groups and members of the public, the Mark Rothko Art Center has bowed to pressure and removed three works from an exhibition.
Estonian ceramicist Sander Raudsepp's personal exhibition "Afterlife: dying to get there" includes works in which the artist has used Christian iconography in various ways. One particular work, named 'Dicksus', helpfully annotated with the words "Your own alternative Jesus", was adorned with a prominent 3D set of male reproductive organs against a backdrop of numerous smaller cartoon-ish cocks on a cross.
A second work, "Juzi", shows Jesus of Nazareth in South Central L.A. mode, dual-wielding Uzi machine pistols, while a third work called "Sheeple" features a scrawny feline form atop a crumbling cross with a decidedly deranged expression.
Latvian Radio said the Rothko Art Center and the Daugavpils City Council received a number of letters from religious denominations, various cultural associations and residents condemning this exhibition and calling for it to be removed. As a result, the Rothko Center removed the three works by Raudsepp from the larger exhibition of his work.
However, all is not lost for those seeking a gallery of the grotesque and grand guignol.
As the gallery below shows, other exhibits feature a seasonal gingerbread Christ on a gingerbread cross, and a group of creatures bearing a passing resemblance to priapic Blue Meanies from the Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie engaged in some sort of nude yoga, but these appear to be less distressing to the complainants.
Visitors can still enjoy a colorful painting of livestock with their heads heading in the direction of up following a neck explosion, someone blowing his brains out in delicate pen and ink, and a pair of emerald reptiles neatly pulling someone in half down the middle.
According to publicity materials explaining the exhibition: "In his search for “the answers”, the artist has collected his thoughts on the certainty of death. He offers a visual representation of his journey, from fearing the unknown to accepting that anything is possible. He definitely doesn’t have any firm conclusions.
"Psychedelics probably haven’t helped reach any certainty either, but they have led the artist to believe anything can be true. There is only one way to find out for sure – through death itself!"
The controversial exhibition runs until February 19, 2023. The duration of life remains less certain.
The Latvian Museums Association on November 28 condemned what it called an act of "censorship" by Daugavpils municipality and called for the return of the works of art to the exhibition, in an open letter on the association's website.
