February 16, 2009 --- An exhibition of more than 70 paintings by the Southern California artist, Christiana, was abruptly cancelled last Friday when the artist removed her work after the show’s curator insisted she take down two paintings that contained a few abstract breasts. “Anything that could potentially offend somebody, we don’t show,” Phantom Galleries Executive Director, Liza Simone, the organizer of the event, told L.A. Times’ Louis Sahagun. The controversy surrounding the conflict (dubbed 'Nipplegate') between Christiana and Simone has been reported as far away as New York, with most reports condemning the actions of Simone as censorious, hypocritical (see the photos below of another Phantom gallery show) and disturbing for an organization that is supposed to be in the business of promoting greater appreciation of art. In other shows, Phantom Galleries has displayed photos of dying children and semi-naked women.
The heart of the conflict, as reported in the L.A. Times, is the following:
"They've got a problem with nipples," Christiana said. "But there is nothing obscene or pornographic about either of these paintings. Human beings breast-feed, and they've been doing it for millions of years."
Liza Simone, executive producer of Phantom Galleries L.A., which sponsored the exhibition, said, "it's completely up to my discretion what goes up in these exhibitions and what doesn't." Phantom is a for-profit community outreach program that specializes in transforming vacant buildings into temporary art displays.
"The public went bonkers when Janet Jackson revealed one nipple during a Super Bowl game," Simone said. "Anything that could potentially offend someone, we don't show.
"Artists do not decide what is shown and what isn't. We do," she added. "We have quality control." (see the complete L.A. Times story, complete with the offending breasts, at http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-long-beach-art10-2...)
As L.A. neon artist Lili Lakich points out, the parallel with Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction is absurd; an abstract image of a breast is no more a breast than a painting of a pipe is a pipe, as Rene Magritte famously demonstrated. In her article (see ‘newsletter’ at www.lakich.com), Lakich asks, what would Picasso say? We checked and here’s the answer: “Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art.” More to the point, perhaps, is David Mamet’s observation; “We live in oppressive times. We have, as a nation, become our own thought police; but instead of calling the process by which we limit our expression of dissent and wonder “censorship,” we call it “concern for commercial viability.”
Thursday, Mrach 4 -- Emmeric James Konrad, longtime anchor of the downtown L.A. arts scene, was told last week by the proprietors of a downtown bar that a mural he painted on their windows on Spring St. at 5th. would have to come down to allay concerns expressed by a city official.
Sunday, February 28, 3:40 p.m. Emmeric James Konrad, longtime anchor of the downtown L.A. arts scene, was told late last week by the proprietors of a downtown bar that they had been ordered by a vice officer to remove the mural he painted on their windows on Spring St. at 5th. 
By Bedlam Magazine
For the previous two weeks, Fairey has been in the Boston area installing the ICA exhibit, creating outdoor art at various locations (including a 20-by-50 foot banner mounted on one side of City Hall) and hosting public forums on the function of outdoor art. 
