Obscene Or Simply Poor Taste

Thumbing through today’s Herald Times I couldn’t help but notice two totally contrasting items in the newspaper. One article was titled “Nude concrete statues: Art or obscene?” The story was about a police action in Edinburgh forcing a local business to remove “obscene” concrete statuary from public view along a roadway. This action was required after local authorities received two complaints. Action was taken on behalf of Indiana’s obscenity law, which prohibits the display of nudity where children might see it. This law also stipulates that such material is harmful for minors if, “considered as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors”.

The contrasting item was an advertisement for a lecture at Indiana University, School of Fine Arts by Vivian Green Fryd titled “the ghosting of Incest and Same-Sex Relationships in Harriet Hosmer’s Beatrice Cenci”. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum. Now I must admit the potential positive educational value of this lecture is certainly questionable but removing nude concrete statuary from sight, that’s going to far. Strolling down the streets of Florence, Italy one can’t help but appreciate the beauty of the many sculptures and statuary that adorn that city, some clothed and some less clothes. In Edinburgh the only possible offense in this situation is one of questionable taste in having a concrete copy of Venus di Milo in the yard next to a concrete yard gnome. Certainly living in Bloomington is not without its challenges but I must admit, there are more times than not, that I am glad that I live in such a culturally rich community.