Mellwood leasing director on the offensiveness of Jesus art: "We own these walls."

This is one of my favorite LEO pieces in recent memory, but to feel the full impact of the vituperation, continue into the comments section.

Censorship at Mellwood?, by Jo Anne Triplett (LEO Weekly)

When an artist proclaims censorship has happened, the statement is so volatile that it’s the equivalent of shouting “fire” in a crowded building. Art professionals, who are more comfortable with controversial subjects than the general public, have a knee-jerk reaction to it, recalling the First Amendment (visual art became part of “the freedom of speech” in the 1970s). As a result, the gap between what artists create and what viewers see can be miles apart.

Artists Billy Twymon and Devon Turley have accused the Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center of censorship. The collaborators were asked to remove three large paintings from their exhibition “The Really Big Show” (hanging in Mellwood’s Hallway B). The removed works feature female nudity, sex and religious subject matter.