[url=http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/199/article/45193/]Gainsville Times[/url]
[release]As an art appreciation professor, Stanley Bermudez does more than teach his students about the differences between a Van Gogh and a Monet.
He also teaches them how to handle their reactions to different works of art.
"I tell my students that they may come across art that they don't like — they may even hate it and that's OK," said Bermudez, an instructor at Gainesville State College.
"If you don't like the way something looks, you don't have to look at it."
As they prepare to move out into the art community, what his students shouldn't do is censor others' artistic expression, Bermudez says.
"When I was growing up in South America, we had the freedom of expression in my country. But when Hugo Chávez came into power, he started manipulating that freedom. Everything from the media to art was being censored," said Bermudez, who is from Venezuela.
"Anyone who made a negative comment about the government ... was being attacked or repressed. I don't agree with that kind of censorship."
As an artist, Bermudez often takes to canvas to express his feelings and thoughts. One of his most recent works, "Heritage?," illustrates what comes to his mind when he thinks of the Confederate flag.
The red flag, with the blue St. Andrew's Cross emblazoned across the front adorned with white stars, was carried onto the battlefield by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. While some people argue that the flag represents Southern heritage and pride, other people — Bermudez included — see it in a less positive light.
"In school (in Venezuela) we learned about the United States' Civil War and slavery. I learned to have a negative view of the flag — I basically associated the image of the flag with slavery, racism and the KKK," said Bermudez.
"In 1983, I was a college student in Texas and saw a group of KKK clansmen in their hooded robes, standing on a street corner yelling and waving the (Confederate) flag. My English was limited at the time, so I'm not sure what they were yelling, but I probably wouldn't want to know.
"It only happened once in the 12 years that I lived there, but that image stuck with me."
For his 7«-foot long painting, Bermudez used the traditional Confederate flag image, but added depictions of a hooded clansmen bearing a flaming torch, a hanging and an angry women in the background of the acrylic painting.
"This is very much what I feel and think about when I see that flag. It's just my personal feelings about it. It's an accumulation of the things I've seen, studied and read over the years," Bermudez said.
"When visiting the KKK website, the (Confederate) flag is used often. Recently, the KKK has had public meetings near (my home), which scares me because of their anti-Latino immigration sentiments.
Although the finished piece is how Bermudez sees the flag, not everyone agrees with his views. Public response to the piece was so strong that Gainesville State's administration asked that the picture be removed from the faculty showing in the Roy C. Moore Art Gallery on the college's Oakwood campus, Bermudez says.
"I wasn't expecting that kind of feedback. I've been an artist for 25 years. I've always known that artwork can be powerful, but I never dreamed it would be this powerful to the point that I would be censored," said Bermudez.
Instead of a painting, his artist's statement explaining what inspired the absent piece is now hanging in the gallery.
The college declined to share with The Times any of the feedback that prompted the removal of the painting; however, at least one "Southern heritage" website described the painting as "despicable" and prompted visitors to contact Martha Nesbitt, the college's president, about the picture. Site administrators even posted her e-mail address and telephone number.
"Even though I don't agree with the decision to take it down, I do respect it," Bermudez said.
"I know if I was in that kind of position, I'd have a difficult time making a decision, because it's a hard one to make."
Although he's working on a companion piece where he hopes to portray some of the more positive aspects of the flag's history, Bermudez says finishing the piece will take a lot of research.
"I'm probably always going to have a negative view of the image, but I have met some people in Georgia who don't agree with me and I plan to have a dialog with them to see their point of view," Bermudez said.
"I always like to show two sides of an argument. Maybe I'll be able to hang both side-by-side and let the audience make up their own mind. Let them decide which one they align themselves with."[/release]
The work in question
[img]http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lg3qhinWG01qbqiluo1_500.jpg[/img]
Banning art because it offends you defeats the whole purpose of art.
I'm going to go complain about every naked woman I see depicted in artistic rendition, then well see how many good painting that aren't pieces of modern art shit are left.
I hate how militant some people can get against the Confederate flag. It's a part of history, and ignoring it and pushing it away isn't going to help anyone. People who are offended by the flag alone (Granted there are plenty of people who cause the flag to be viewed in a negative light who tend to accompany the flag with racist statements) are ignorant. Same with swastikas. The problem is the people who bear them most of the time, not the flags themselves.
Now, I know admitting it here is probably a terrible idea but i'm a proud Southerner and I love learning about the history of the region. And it turns out the Confederacy is part of that history. Learning about it helps us prevent it from happening again.
I hate people who claim the Confederate Flag is a pride thing. Why should you be proud of a bunch of rebels who lost? Wouldn't it be more prideful to be more Patriotic to America. Not an almost 200 year old failed rebellion?
[QUOTE=Bryanrocks01;27866275]I hate people who claim the Confederate Flag is a pride thing. Why should you be proud of a bunch of rebels who lost? Wouldn't it be more prideful to be more Patriotic to America. Not an almost 200 year old failed rebellion?[/QUOTE]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/i9IQS.gif[/img]
[QUOTE=Canesfan;27865268]I hate how militant some people can get against the Confederate flag. It's a part of history, and ignoring it and pushing it away isn't going to help anyone. People who are offended by the flag alone (Granted there are plenty of people who cause the flag to be viewed in a negative light who tend to accompany the flag with racist statements) are ignorant. Same with swastikas. The problem is the people who bear them most of the time, not the flags themselves.
Now, I know admitting it here is probably a terrible idea but i'm a proud Southerner and I love learning about the history of the region. And it turns out the Confederacy is part of that history. Learning about it helps us prevent it from happening again.[/QUOTE]
people aren't offended by the work because it's the confederate flag. People are offended by it because it has an image of a lynching in it.
It shouldn't be banned, but it being the confederate flag isn't the reason people are offended
[quote]
"If you don't like the way something looks, you don't have to look at it."[/quote]
Probably explains why his wife doesn't look at him in bed :smug:
Pisschrist
It's funny because that's pretty much what the flag represents
Land of the free and democracy they say, and then they wonder why rest of the world rejects their offers of democracy.
Really now
This is so stupid... where is the freedom
Art that doesn't represent anything shouldn't be called art at all.
To be honest, I've always held a similar view about the Confederate flag. Godwin's law ahoy, but it's not so disimilar from brandishing a nazi swastika.
I can understand how people of the South have pride in it, no matter whether they're racist or whatever. But it's one of those "when you think about it..." sort of things.
Being English probably skewers my knowledge of the history of it and the civil war.
I go to gainesville... Pretty bullshit though.
Wasn't the American Confederacy the guys who basically didn't want equal rights because not having slaves would cause them to lose money?
[editline]5th February 2011[/editline]
[quote]That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states.[/quote]
Yep, that's what I was talking about, I don't see how anyone can be proud of that, but it's not something to forget.
Nobody really knows what the Confederate flag means anymore. People only think they do, and those people are usually the rednecks who go waving it around "because".
Even if I don't like it, or despise it with ever fiber of my being, that is no excuse for censorship.
[QUOTE=Doozle;27871682]To be honest, I've always held a similar view about the Confederate flag. Godwin's law ahoy, but it's not so disimilar from brandishing a nazi swastika.
I can understand how people of the South have pride in it, no matter whether they're racist or whatever. But it's one of those "when you think about it..." sort of things.
Being English probably skewers my knowledge of the history of it and the civil war.[/QUOTE]
its a heritage thing, the civil war wasn't about slavery to begin with, and the flag wasn't made to defend it
[QUOTE=Nerts;27872442]Wasn't the American Confederacy the guys who basically didn't want equal rights because not having slaves would cause them to lose money?[/quote]
Slavery was a major reason, but another major reason was the South felt alienated from the North. High tariffs, horrible treatment, and little to no government say left the South feeling like it was abandoned, therefore separation.
Though I in no way agree with slavery, I still think it honourable that they fought for some measure of rights in return. And even if I didn't agree, it's still just art and part of history, and should not be censored.
[editline]5th February 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Jasper;27875391]its a heritage thing, the civil war wasn't about slavery to begin with, and the flag wasn't made to defend it[/QUOTE]
This.
[QUOTE=Gmod_Fan77;27875697]Slavery was a major reason, but another major reason was the South felt alienated from the North. High tariffs, horrible treatment, and little to no government say left the South feeling like it was abandoned, therefore separation.
Though I in no way agree with slavery, I still think it honourable that they fought for some measure of rights in return. And even if I didn't agree, it's still just art and part of history, and should not be censored.
[editline]5th February 2011[/editline]
This.[/QUOTE]
Every road eventually leads to slavery. High tariffs...because they exported cotton produced by slaves. Bad treatment...because they owned and discriminated against slaves. Little government say...about slavery. Felt like they were abandoned...because they clung to slavery while the rest of the country banned it.
Their vice president even said that their country was based upon the inferiority of blacks.
[quote](Jefferson's) ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. ... Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner–stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural and normal condition.[/quote][URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_speech[/URL]
The reason South Carolina seceded was because they had an irrational fear that because Lincoln was elected, he would ban slavery in the South. He was only opposed to its expansion at first anyway.
[QUOTE=<VET>Jasper;27875391]its a heritage thing, the civil war wasn't about slavery to begin with, and the flag wasn't made to defend it[/QUOTE]
The confederate flag was used in the civil war for a few years.
The confederate flag was used by the Ku Klux Klan for over a hundred years.
Lincoln believed blacks were inferior too.
Also the KKK didn't exist until Lincoln disenfranchised ex-Confederates. Granted I'm not sure how they got from "The Yankees made us second-class citizens" to "Dress up in pillowcases and lynch ethnic minorities" but hey, Southerners being weird is a universal constant.
[editline]5th February 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=TH89;27880071]The confederate flag was used in the civil war for a few years.
The confederate flag was used by the Ku Klux Klan for over a hundred years.[/QUOTE]
How come your post was made five minutes ago but is placed before RBM11's post which was made two minutes ago?
[QUOTE=Jasper;27875391]its a heritage thing, the civil war wasn't about slavery to begin with, and the flag wasn't made to defend it[/QUOTE]
Why do so many people (read: retards) actually believe that the civil war wasn't about slavery? How can someone be so literally retarded as to willfully ignore conflicts in the United States over the issue of slavery since before the Constitution was even created that would eventually culminate in the civil war? 3/5ths compromise, Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, the Kansas Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas, Wilmot Proviso, raid of Harper's Ferry, etc? Especially when even most secessionists argued that they separated over slavery and many states, such as Texas, specifically referenced slavery when they seceded?
"Oh but state's rights, RBM, state's rights" you might say. But guess what? It was mainly about the state's right...to allow slavery.
:iiam:
[QUOTE=Capitulazyguy;27880176]Lincoln believed blacks were inferior too.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but he didn't want to murder and enslave them. Pretty much everyone thought black ppl were inferior then, except maybe Mark Twain, and black ppl
[QUOTE=TH89;27880071]The confederate flag was used in the civil war for a few years.
The confederate flag was used by the Ku Klux Klan for over a hundred years.[/QUOTE]
The Confederate Flag was made in the image of the Southern Cross, primarily as a symbol of freedom and Southern Christianity.
It wasn't until the Ku Klux Klan adopted it as a slavery symbol, which they still use it as today.
[editline]5th February 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=TH89;27880243]Yeah, but he didn't want to murder and enslave them. Pretty much everyone thought black ppl were inferior then, except maybe Mark Twain, and black ppl[/QUOTE]
I believe it was Mark Twain who used the "n-word" numerous times in his literature, was it not? That doesn't sound like he considered them equal.
[QUOTE=Gmod_Fan77;27882003]I believe it was Mark Twain who used the "n-word" numerous times in his literature, was it not? That doesn't sound like he considered them equal.[/QUOTE]
You're completely ignoring the context with which the word was used.
[QUOTE=Pace.;27864989]Banning art because it offends you defeats the whole purpose of art.[/QUOTE]
So the purpose of art is to offend? I thought it was to draw random figures on a white sheet, claiming it's filled with metaphors, and if anyone says it's just a sheet of paper with a few random drops of paint you tell them they're just too stupid to understand.
Resulting in everybody acting like they like art, because nobody wants to be called stupid.
[QUOTE=Notnotprobydoby;27882068]So the purpose of art is to offend? I thought it was to draw random figures on a white sheet, claiming it's filled with metaphors, and if anyone says it's just a sheet of paper with a few random drops of paint you tell them they're just too stupid to understand.
Resulting in everybody acting like they like art, because nobody wants to be called stupid.[/QUOTE]
If you believe that your piece of paper with splats on it is art, then it's art.
okay nobody here is in any condition to discuss the meaning of art so just drop that conversation completely
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