Posted on 11/12/2001 3:48:24 AM PST by sarcasm
Bob Rowan has a wife, a 5-year-old daughter and a house north of Boulder, and to all three he returned Saturday morning, carrying a bag full of penises. He put them in a box in the family room, and started getting over his rage. Rowan, 49, was infuriated by a display inside the Boulder Public Library's gallery, where the colorful ceramic penises had dangled from a clothesline in a domestic-violence themed exhibit. Only a week before, talk radio hosts thrashed the library for refusing to make a patriotic display of an American flag. Then they learned the penises had quietly been shown since October. The two symbols, the flag and the phallus, were inseparable to Rowan. One supported fighting men overseas; the other, he said, was a strident, sensational "male-bashing" work, and the library selected the latter. Rowan simmered over that choice for a full day, then drove to Boulder to do something about it. In full view of a few silent onlookers, Rowan plucked the 21 penises from the line, put them in a trash bag, and left a small American flag and a calling card: "El Dildo Bandito was here." It was an act that would bring police to his house in the middle of the night, but it is not one he regrets. "It's not art, it's garbage," Rowan said Sunday morning. "I detest the fact they're hanging there, number one, but the timing; it's the wrong time to do something like this. And it should never belong in something I pay taxes for." Rowan should find out today if he will be prosecuted. City spokeswoman Jennifer Bray said it is artist Susanne Walker's prerogative to file charges, though the theft occurred on city property. The case will be referred to a detective. Walker could not be reached for comment Sunday afternoon. A statement at her display called the theft "an attack on my freedom of speech," as well as the gallery, and the issue of domestic violence against women. "It makes a joke of the pain and suffering involved in this exhibit," she wrote. The penises were not on display Sunday evening, presumably because they were in police custody, Bray said. Rowan had telephoned the news offices of Denver radio station KOA-AM (850) on Friday night to tell them what he would do the next day, said producer Cory Lopez. Rowan had heard about the controversy on an FM station owned by KOA's parent company. Then, Saturday evening, Rowan called the radio station again to confess. KOA told police, who went to Rowan's home to recover the penises. "My intent was not to break and smash them," Rowan said. "I told police, here's the box, I was going to mail them back. I wanted them down, I didn't want the stupid things." Rowan, a plastering subcontractor, said two friends accompanied him but they didn't witness or participate in the theft. He said his brother-in-law, a lawyer, tried to talk him out of his plan. Rowan didn't flinch. "This was a smack in the face of pure decency," he said. Walker, in her statement, demanded the thief confront her personally. "If you want to attack me or my artwork, then confront me with discussion," she wrote. "There is no face-to-face discussion," Rowan said. "I'd be glad to stare at her, but we won't have a conversation on what the value of her art is. Not in our public library, anyway. You don't hang penises and then discuss what the value is." Rowan said he is not insensitive to the issue of domestic violence, and he said other pieces in the exhibit, some of them nudes, are tasteful and appropriate. But for his penis pilfering, "If I gotta go to court, I gotta go to court, and maybe it happens that way," he said. "I'm just so ticked about the whole deal, I can't believe it."
...I wonder if there will be disruptive "art experts" on THIS thread, like there was on the thread about this case LAST week.
LOL!!
I know ALL male freepers agree! LOL!!
I am quite sure that the woman that made the ceramic Phallus was homosexual or leaned in that direction. I am also sure that the display was intended to instill hate for men and not to help those that are experiencing domestic or sexual violence.
Nevermind. Kudos to Mr. Rowan.
Perhaps Mizzzzzzz Walker's point was "Help stamp out domestic violence. Don't get married. If you're married, get a divorce. Buy your own penis, and eschew all men!"
I don't think the guy should get in trouble for what he did. He seems to be quite sincere. However, I do not have an issue with the exibit, since the whole exibit is based on the serious problem of domestic abuse. In other articles, it was noted that a sign outside the art house said the subject matter inside the exibit was of a sensitive/mature nature. It was also reported that a woman said she was upset that her child had to see it. (Read: Parent does not read signs.)
I don't know about everyone else, but my taxes paying a likely miniscule amount on an art exibit I don't agree with is a drop in the bucket, compared to what ELSE my taxes pay for that I REALLY don't agree with.
It's insane. Please keep us posted about what will be next.
Just a thought,
Alas
I am not worried that my wife would suddenly, in a moment of liberation, get the urge to divorce to me and buy her own penis. If she doesn't feel liberated when she's married to me - well, as much as you can feel and still be responsible to your family - then I would want to know what I can do to help the relationship.
If you are worried your significant other may want to chop off your penis, you are either paranoid, or you may want to ease up on some of those beatings.
Little kids don't need to be faced with penis's dangling in their faces-that is so shameful and horrid I don't have words. Good for this gentleman, there is a limit, and the library person responsible for allowing such a display where children go to learn, not be faced with crude representations of the male anatomy, is a SICK PERSON. Even grocery stores cover up magazines that display too much skin, and they are NOT tax payer funded.
What the heck could this little "display" possibly have to do with domestic violence??? Wait, wait, I get it - the "artist" is a Lorena Bobbitt fan!! Yeah, that MUST be it!! ---- "Artist" my foot - low class waste of good air is more like it!!
My hubby doesn't have to worry about it either. The dildo display is a message of hate toward all men. I should have added a <*/SARCASM> tag to the post you referred to.
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