The polite appeals for an exquisite degree of attention pile up elegantly and repetitiously. It's a corporate headquarters first, a gallery second. Employee complaint, according to Willis and the director of the Baltimore Life Gallery, George Sondersmith, are what prompted the removal. Maintaining comfort in the workplace is the company's first priority, and since the works hang in the corridors, they are not easily avoided. How anyone could be offended by the works is what Fenster wonders.
Writing appears on the side.
It's a very dangerous precedent when corporations are allowed to censor work. Fenster's work has appeared in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and is soon to be on view at the San Jose Museum of Art. After the removal of Fenster's work, Tom Hyatt, guest curator and contributing artist for the exhibition, responded by removing his work from the show. After he called the other artists involved to tell them what had happened, several independently opted to do the same. The attrition of artists prompted the gallery to cancel the show.