I am working on a PROTEST against The Whitechapel Gallery and its Director,Iwona Blazwick for REMOVING the Artworks by The Late Great Surrealist, HANS BELLMER! AS a Surrealist, AND AS an Artist, I cannot stand by and remain Silent, while an Attack against Surrealism and the Arts takes place against one of the most important Surrealists of all time, HANS BELLMER! This is not only an Attack against Bellmer, and Surrealism, but an Attack against ART! This OUTRAGE came not from any party from outside the art world, BUT FROM WITHIN!!!! It was an ART GALLERY DIRECTOR, Iwona Blazwick, who decided to REMOVE the artworks of HANS BELLMER, a day before the exhibit was to take place! As the founder of SURREALISM NOW! and as a MAJOR SUPPORTER of SURREALISM and THE ARTS, I cannot stand by and remain silent! WE MUST TAKE ACTION! I am already contacting other Surrealists and Artists to write a Collective Protest against Whitechapel for this attack! Please E-mail me, if you read this and are outraged as well, I will add your name to the Protest!
Those who stand in SOLIDARITY with this PROTEST are:
GREGG SIMPSON (founder of The West Coast Surrealist Group)
ELENA SIFF ERENBERG
JORGE MYZTICO CAMPO
JON NEAL WALLACE
OLEG KOROLEV
KD MATHESON
SHAHLA ROSA
JAMES GIRALDO
KEITH WIGDOR
A MOST MOVING STATEMENT FROM SURREALIST COMRADE DANIEL HANEQUAND:
"Well done dear Keith!!! Hans Bellmer happens to be one of my favorite artist...that horrible bitch and ignorant should be removed from her position as of tomorrow ! Please do add my name to it! and I congratulate you for your vigilance! we're discriminated enough that we don't need that moron as a so-called "curator" aside that she has no right to "mess-up" with a great surrealist like Bellmer who do deserve great respect.Take great care of yourself Keith! Daniel"
DANIEL HANEQUAND (LEGENDARY SURREALIST FROM CANADA)
PETER LEWIS (LEGENDARY MASTER OF COLLAGE FROM WARPART)
CAROL QUINT from Brooklyn, (a great artist) stands in SOLIDARITY with US!
This is from Surrealist, MARTIN BRADLEY:
"Dear Keith
Yes I totally agree that Iwona Blazwick pulling the Hans Bellmers from the Whitehall Exhibition is a blow against Art and against freedom of speech.
When a gallery has to be so mindful of the sensibilities of the viewing public it enforces censorship not only on the gallery, but on the Artists involved. Though it may be true that some great Art has been made under censorship, my personal feeling is that an Artist cannot afford to be swayed by the whims of the society around him, as an Artist is a mirror and an interpreter of society.
R.S. BEAL (a great Surrealist from the USA and an outstanding painter!)
IAN PYPER (a great Surrealist from the UK, where this outrage happened!)
MARTINE RHYNER (a great Surrealist from Germany and an outstanding painter!)
TIM SLOWINSKI (the TIM SLOWINSKI, publisher of DIRECT ART and Director, and Owner, of LIMNER GALLERY)
and this beautiful statement from one of the greatest woman surrealists of today, and great oil on canvas painter as well, RODICA MILLER:
"This is a regretable mistake, actually, a big shame in the contemporary
world of art history!!!!!!!!!!
And the art galleries are simply losing their credibility. Why do they have
to mix Art with Politics????
Something similar happened hundreds of years ago to Charles Baudelaire when
he published LES FLEURS DU MAL in 1857. The book has been confiscated
shortly after the launch, and the author faced a law suit on the grounds of
'offence de la morale publique'. Baudelaire has been obliged to take off six
poems and pay a fine. The posterity revised the sentence and decided that
Baudelaire's trial was the most shameful fact in the world literary history.
Bravo, Keith! I am so proud of you because you cannot stay silent when Art &
Artists are under attack........Hope I am not that late with my reply." by RODICA MILLER
Alicia Maria de la Campa (surrealist from Cuba)
Deborah Valentine (of Exquisite Corpse gallery@Deviant Art)
Rolland Proulx (Visionary Surrealist Artist)
Robert Walker (Fantasy and Surreal Artist)
Hopefully, this mess caused by WHITECHAPEL can be cleared up with a public statement from the Director, IWONA! The excuse of "limited gallery space" just don't hold, when the curator Agnes, already blew the whistle. There is no fuss here, its VOCAL OUTRAGE! If limited gallery space was the reason, then Agnes would not have said boo to the press, go figure!In the meantime, SURREALISM IS ALIVE more than EVER in BELLMER's work!!!
"Hey there Keith! I am writing to support your boycott against the Whitechapel art gallery. Bellmer was a great artist, and it hypocrisy to deny our true human nature, manifested extensively in his work. As an artist in Guatemala, where sexuality is a hidden topic, I hold deep resentment against all kinds of censorship! I think we should all manifest our thoughts as strongly as you have, and I join your protest!
Power to SURREALISM and the Arts!"
Blessings,
Ovidio Cartagena
Keith Wigdor presents Surrealism Now! Copyright 2006
