In a room adjacent to the Singer, as part of Revolutions, Zalkind installed a separate display devoted entirely to Komar and Melamid's proposed Denver commission. Since 1972, the General Services Administration -- which is overseeing the construction of the courthouse -- has had a public-art program called Art in Architecture; over the past thirty years, the GSA has awarded more than 200 commissions to some of the country's most important artists.
Komar and Melamid received their commission for the Denver courthouse in 1998. They worked closely with Anderson Mason Dale, the architectural design firm on the job. But last year, they were quietly dismissed from the project because the GSA's advisory committee had some objections. Zalkind's exhibit includes twelve preparatory drawings and copies of the minutes of relevant meetings, as well as letters that went back and forth between the artists and the GSA. The drawings reflect half a dozen versions of two succeeding proposals made for two different sites in the courthouse's interior.
"Color Lines in Vertical Motion," by Ilya Chashnik, ink and watercolor on paper.
"Lenin Hails a Cab," by Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid, oil on canvas.
Details
Through February 26, 303-753-6046
Revolutions: Generations of Russian Jewish Avant-Garde Artists
Through April 7
Where: Singer Gallery, Mizel Center for Arts and Culture
350 South Dahlia Street, 303-399-2660
Philip J. Steele Gallery, 6875 East Evans Avenue
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Looking at the drawings, it's hard to understand what the problem was.
In the first proposal, Komar and Melamid suggested a lobby painting hung at eye level. The painting, "Eagle-Eyed Justice," depicts an American eagle holding a scale in its mouth; the eagle is surrounded by a circle of fifty stars, with the top star replaced by a columbine and on either side a male and female lark bunting, the state bird. The artists added another painting, "Liberty as Standard-Bearer," to this original suggestion. This piece, described as a "pendent," features an image of the Statue of Liberty waving an American flag in which the star field has been replaced by a representation of the cosmos.
Lewis Babcock, a U.S. District Court judge who served on the advisory committee, had difficulties with these paintings. According to the minutes of the June 27, 2000, meeting, he felt there was a problem with "the use of the state flower -- the columbine -- because of its implicit reference to the recent slaying of school children at Columbine High School." He went on to note that lawsuits related to Columbine were pending and that the use of the state flower "could be perceived by some as the courts favoring the victims." Babcock also objected to federal symbols such as the eagle, because "these symbols might imply that the judges were partial to the interests and views of the government."
Babcock's objections put Komar and Melamid in a difficult position, because their contract with the GSA called for the artists to create, "symbolic painting combining the Federal and State of Colorado symbols." Things like the columbine and the eagle. The artists pointed out that such symbols are often seen in government buildings, including some right here in Denver.
Nonetheless, it was back to the drawing board. The GSA gave Komar and Melamid three months to cook up an alternate proposal. In December 2000, they presented a scheme for the conical dome of the lobby's ceiling -- titled "Our Home, Milky Way" -- that involved painting thirteen sections in alternating red and white and eleven sections in blue. The blue sections are all accented by images of the universe.
"Our Home" also did not satisfy Judge Babcock, who expressed his "deep concern that many visitors...would perceive the work as a message that the US Government is interested in taking over the world."
On March 27, 2001, Komar and Melamid were summarily dismissed. According to a letter from GSA contracting officer Dannie Crowder, their work was "found to be unacceptable." (The irony of two former Soviet artists being censored in the U.S. is depressing -- but still delicious.)
It's unclear whether another artist will be hired or whether the commission will simply disappear. (A Sol Lewitt commission for the courthouse is still going forward.)
The shows at Steele and Singer share a certain sentiment with the courthouse controversy: It's politics, as usual.
