Posted on 11/12/2001 9:45:29 AM PST by jalisco555
BOULDER — A controversial art display featuring 21 brightly colored ceramic penises was stolen Saturday from a domestic violence awareness exhibit at a public library.
The work, entitled "Hanging 'Em Out to Dry," was suspended from a clothesline. Someone removed the penises from the clothesline and replaced them with an American flag and a note with a joking reference to a bandit, city spokeswoman Jennifer Bray said.
The library was criticized this month when officials declined to hang a 10- by 15-foot American flag in the lobby, saying it was too big. A smaller flag was put there instead.
Artist Susanne Walker, who created the work, said the theft contradicts the values symbolized by the flag.
"It makes a joke of the pain and suffering involved in this exhibit. If you want to attack me or my artwork, then confront me with discussion," Walker said in a written statement hung in the gallery Saturday.
Police believe the theft occurred in the morning while the library was open. The exhibit is near an auditorium where a children's performance was held Saturday, and police hope someone might have witnessed the theft.
The exhibit, entitled, "Art Triumphs Over Violence," also includes paintings. It is sponsored by the Boulder County Safehouse, which shelters and supports battered women and children.
Many of the works were done by former abuse victims or their relatives.
The stolen artwork, which became a hot topic on talk radio, was placed in a corner, out of the direct view of people entering the library.
Officials also posted a sign warning people they might be offended by the display.
I think they would. Boulder, CO is like Berkeley, about as commie PC lunatic as it gets (so far). If it erodes any kind of virtue they will do it. At least in this case they didn't get by with it and that is a first win for sanity in that city in a long time. I knew some good stuff would come out of this war. The PC crowd is getting pushed back now.
MM, who longs to escape the heat and humidity of Southern summers
Am pleased *oldglory* was considered to *deep six* this DUMB DISPLAY!
AKA *new glory*
I was going to ping Mattchett also but can't spell her name.
Chow back atcha kiddo...
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