Nov. 5, 2003

Due to controversy surrounding my submission to the current CCBC faculty art exhibit, I found it necessary to make a statement and publicly voice a protest against actions taken by the Community College of Baltimore County.

I was recently informed that my untitled, mixed media, art piece (fig. 1) was moved from a prominent entrance display to an obscure corner of the gallery to insure less public visibility. The relocation was said to be initiated by a high level College administrator.

Demanding that a piece of art be moved to a less conspicuous area because some individual has taken issue with the piece as a whole, the materials used, intended symbolism, or perhaps the artist, is no less than an act of censorship on the part of CCBC's administration. Suppressing freedom of expression, in any form, has no place in the academic arena.

Mindful that visual references are open to free association and individual interpretation, some have suggested that my inspiration and source material originated from the works of Robert Mapplethorpe or Andres Serrano. This is absolutely false. While I personally find the work of both artists rude and, in my opinion, created only for the purpose of shock value, I will vigorously defend their right to express themselves in whatever manner and medium they choose.

My piece, however, makes reference to other and somewhat controversial artists in their own right.
I contend that any art novice will connect my expansion of scale of an everyday item to Claes Oldenburg (fig. 2) and the use of a consumer product as icon to Andy Warhol (fig. 3). Clearly the materials used to create these pieces of art fall outside the publicly acknowledged list of art supplies.

I consider myself a post-modern artist and not simply a "photographer". Post-modern art ushered in the use of unconventional and contemporary materials, pushing their boundaries in ways that, until the end of the 20th century, were alien to fine art practice. The purchase of materials at Home Depot to create art is a now everyday occurrence.

Although I used a camera and darkroom techniques to create my 1983 Baltimore Subway mural Archetype (fig. 4), the piece crossed design barriers where it could not be weighed by values of traditional photography. The mural’s scale, 10' x 36’, the application of contemporary outdoor adverting materials as a substrate and the conceptualization of the subway space in cathedral proportions, were all components that determined the scope and nature of a mural designed to last 100 years.

The other, and admittedly somewhat oblique, reference to my exhibited piece points to the British artist Damien Hirst. His artwork exemplifies the use of contemporary artistic media by transforming traditional painting into complex gallery installations. Artworks feature a 14' tiger shark (fig. 4), sheep, and various bovine parts suspended within a glass tanks filled with a 5% formaldehyde solution.

Except for the suspended professor's medallion, given to me by the College, all materials used to create my mixed media piece were purchased at a local Wal-Mart.

Prof. Tom Gregory
Art Dept. / Essex Campus

TGregory@ccbcmd.edu
410.780.6725 - office
410.727.2555 - studio

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fig. 1
pencil provides scale only and not
part of the final presentation

Untitled, mixed media, Tom Gregory, 2003

fig. 2
Spoonbridge and Cherry, Claes Oldenburg, 1988

fig. 3

Brillo Boxes, Andy Warhol, 1969

fig. 4
Archetype, Tom Gregory, 1983, download TV Interview

fig .5

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, Damien Hirst, 1991