Banned! in Marin

Few things set people off like art they don't like. I'm not sure why, but it's right up there with politics and religion as a way to get combative juices surging.

Some artists like it that way. They enjoy the role of the disturber and make it their mission to stir things up. That's not my way. When people see my work, I want them to be happy. So you can imagine my surprise when my paintings went up at a local golf club and someone got riled enough to complain to the management.

The painting that caused the stir was Marin Ensemble, (shown here). I was having a little fun with Henri Matisse's famous painting called Music (shown below).

The idea came to me while driving the backroads near where I live in Marin County, California. There are dairy farms in Marin and seeing cows grazing in the hills somehow reminded me of Matisse's Music. I decided it would be fun to replace three of his human figures with three Marin Holsteins.

When I was invited to show my paintings in the golf course club house, I thought people would be amused.

A few days later I got a call. "Sorry, Logan," the manager said, "but someone from a service club that meets here complained about your painting of the cows. Would you mind replacing it with something less controversial?" Less controversial than -- cows? Could it be the exposed udders?

Anyway, I found something "less controversial."

Now when I tell the story, I add that maybe I should have gone to the media. Accusations of censorship usually get your name in the news and people clamor to see the "sinful" art.

Remember when ceramics artist Robert Arneson was commissioned to do a bust of San Francisco's slain mayor, George Mosconi? They wanted a serious tribute for the City Hall rotunda. Of course anyone who did his homework had to know Arnesen's reputation for satire and wry humor, not serious tributes.

They commissioned him anyway, and when the piece was finished the Mosconi family complained that it was "in poor taste." There was a public battle and ultimately it was rejected. "Oh, poor Robert Arneson," some people lamented.When in fact, the dodos handed him a huge gift.

The controversy got national media attention, and the Mosconi bust was in demand in museums everywhere. Conspiracy theorists might even wonder if the art commissioners may have been in cahoots.

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