The recent Supreme Court ruling which allowed stand the N.E.A.’s rejection of grants to Karen Finley and other worthy artists could impact American Art for years to come. Well, the Twentieth Century has seen Degenerate Art, Bourgeois Art, and we now conclude with, Objectionable Art! Tonight’s program is a distillation (and it must be admitted, a narrowing categorization) of some of the many films and videos we’ve shown in recent years which could have easily gotten Cinematheque into trouble with right-wing demagogues. All are distributed by NEA-rejected Canyon Cinema, and all stand as remarkable works of art: Near the Big Chakra by Anne Severson; Noema by Scott Stark; Sodom by Luther Price; Man + Woman + Animal by Valie Export; Downs Are Feminine by Lewis Klahr; The Color of Love by Peggy Ahwesh; and 16/67: September 20 – Gunther Brus (a.k.a. Eating, Drinking, Pissing, Shitting Film) by the late Kurt Kren (Steve Anker)
N.E.A. Watchdogs Take Note! Not one dollar of government money was spent on tonight’s program.