3/3/2023 0 Comments Body painting 2019Ben Sakoguchi, “Comparative Religions 101” (detail) (2014/2019) Ultimately, the institution had the final deciding power on what would be exhibited for Pacific Gold.”Įlizabeth Armstrong and Gilbert Vicario did not provide comment for this article. In an email, Essence Harden, one of the exhibition’s curators, told Hyperallergic: “I wanted to affirm that the curatorial team for the biennial and the institution are two separate entities the curatorial team is not staff but rather contractors for the exhibition. Ultimately the artist was not included in the exhibition.” The museum declined to answer any follow-up questions. In response to Hyperallergic’s request for comment, a representative for OCMA said: “Organizing the Biennial was an iterative process, with artworks being considered throughout the curatorial process, up until the opening. Peter Saul’s “ Stalin in 1943” (2007) was part of the artist’s 2008 retrospective, and depicts “creaming bullets ripping gaping holes in the floating heads of helmeted Nazi soldiers,” as Christopher Knight described in the LA Times.) (Hyperallergic found that at least one painting featuring swastikas was included in a past exhibition at the museum. None of the biennial curators ever met him in person.)Īccording to Sakoguchi, the museum sent him a list of 17 questions to answer regarding his work and requested video clips of him speaking about different panels of the painting, all of which he complied with and are included on his website.īut on September 12, Sakoguchi was informed that the painting would not be included in the show “because the museum will not show any work that depicts a swastika,” he wrote. (Sakoguchi is famously reclusive and typically works on exhibitions through representatives. On August 19, however, a representative for the artist was told by OCMA’s Chief Curator Courtenay Finn that the museum’s Education Department had raised questions about the content of the painting, the timeline says. Four days before the opening, Ben Sakoguchi posted an image of his multi-panel painting “Comparative Religions 101” along with a caption reading “SELECTED then REJECTED for the California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art.” On his website, the 85-year-old Japanese-American artist provides a thorough timeline of events, beginning with a January 12 invitation to participate in the biennial and a notification on June 24 that his painting would indeed be included in the exhibition.
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