A black-and-white portrait of a nude woman was one of many pieces accepted into the Art Melt this year. But a few hours before the art show began Friday evening, Forum 35 volunteers removed the photograph and had the artist escorted from the entire downtown block cordoned off for Art Melt festivities.
Kenneth Wilks’ Real People #3 featured two photo prints—one showed a clothed woman and the second showed the same woman, nude. The piece was on display for the Thursday night preview party. “They had a school group come in Friday morning, and there was concern about that picture,” Forum 35 President Erin Monroe Wesley says. “The Art Melt chairs spoke with Susan Brunner (of Brunner Gallery inside the Shaw Center, home of the Art Melt) and made the decision to remove the art.”
Wilks says that Art Melt co-chair Christen Losey-Gregg informed him that part of the photo was taken down because it was a nude. In the blank wall space next to the clothed photo, Wilks put a sign on the wall that read, “I am being censored. Ask how!!” Wilks says that led Losey-Gregg to have Baton Rouge Police officers remove him not only from the gallery, but also the entire downtown block where the Art Melt festivities happened. “It’s hypocritical at best,” says Wilks. Read the full story here.—Rebecca Breeden
