
Intention and Fear of Bad Taste
(This essay is a re-post from 2011.)
In 2002 Eric Fischl, an American artist from New York City, presented a sculpted piece entitled Tumbling Woman which portrayed a naked female figure falling from a building in commemoration of the people who died in the 9-11 World Trade Center attacks. It was met with a considerable amount of controversy. There were numerous complaints from the public that the statue was “too disturbing” and a columnist from the New York Post even called out that the statue should suffer “immediate withdrawal…it [is] not appropriate in such a public place.”[1] As a result of this public outcry, Fischl announced, “It was a sincere expression of deepest sympathy for the vulnerability of the human condition—both specifically towards the victims of 11 September and toward humanity in general.”[2] His sympathy continues five years later in another interview with Robert Ayers from ARTINFO, in which he states, “It was an absolutely sincere attempt to put feelings into form and to share them, and it was met with such anger and anxiety in a way that used to be reserved for abstract sculpture, really.”[3] The sculpture itself was screened from view until it could eventually be removed from Rockefeller Center as a result of the complaints. Fischl’s experience with finding and exploiting such a disruptive image came to good use but at a price. Read more “Intention and Fear of Bad Taste”