U.S. Flag Made Of Human Skin Is Part Of Art Controversy

AT SOME POINT, should freedom of expression take a back seat to a society's values? That's the question debated over an exhibit of American flags that includes one made of human skin, and another on a floor for visitors to stand on.

PHOENIX - In publicizing its exhibit "Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art," the Phoenix Art Museum trumpeted 80 works by artists celebrating the freedom of expression enjoyed under the U.S. Constitution.

What most people did not know until the display debuted was that it features:

-- An 8-foot-tall wooden "jail" housing a U.S. flag in a toilet.

-- A flag placed on the floor for visitors to stand on.

-- A flag made of Caucasian human skin and hair.

Never mind that sculptor Andrew Krasnow insists that he obtained the skin through unspecified "legal channels," or that visitors are encouraged to register their outrage or delight over that work and others in books destined for the museum's archives. Helms, Dole join protest

The show has rattled congressional leaders in Washington, where Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., has launched an inquiry into whether federal money was used to promote or pay for the collection scheduled to run through June 16.

Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has accused the museum of "hiding behind the lofty language of free speech in order to profit from debasing America."

In Phoenix, the exhibit has turned into a cultural war zone. Labeling the exhibit a collective desecration of the nation's symbol, veterans have staged protest rallies on the museum steps - and even removed flags from the exhibit to fold them properly.

Some sponsors of the museum have disavowed any connection to the show and demanded the removal of plaques at the entrance stating that their funding provides free admission while the museum undergoes renovations.

And there is more to come. While Mayor Skip Rimsza says Phoenix has no legal authority to influence museum activities, Vice Mayor Frances Barwood is trying to find legal grounds to sever the city's 60-year contract to maintain the private, nonprofit facility.

"It's stretching freedom of expression pretty far when a flag made out of human skin hides behind the First Amendment. Where do we draw the line?" Barwood said. "Right now, it is a city-owned building on city-owned land, and we pay $400,000 a year to maintain it. They pay us a dollar a year and thumb their noses at taxpayers and veterans.

More visitors, more money

Not all citizens oppose the exhibit, though. A coalition of educators, clergy and business owners recently paid for an ad in a local newspaper, urging residents to rally behind the museum, the exhibit and the First Amendment.

Despite the turmoil, museum director James Ballinger has no intention of canceling the exhibit on the last leg of its tour. If anything, the show "has been and is a success," he said. And protest, he maintains, "is very much in the spirit of what this exhibit is all about."

Since the exhibit opened on March 16, he said, "attendance is about 1,000 visitors a week above average, membership has increased and donation box offerings are up 40 percent."

But he conceded that the exhibit has created more problems than anticipated.

As for concerns of federal funds being used to pay for the show, Ballinger said, "All Senator Helms has to do is call my office and ask. There is no public money being used in this exhibition. Period."

Skin art called `progressive'

Museum curator David Rubin, who organized the exhibit, said the collection aims to document a significant trend: Amid recent disputes over flag burning and National Endowment for the Arts funding, the flag has resurfaced as a frequently used material by artists.

"Ultimately, we've brought art with something to say together with people who are looking, listening and reflecting," Rubin said. "After all, that's what significant art has always been about."

What can rub critics raw, however, is when Rubin describes the artist who stitched a flag out of leathery strips of taupe-colored human skin as "very innovative. His use of material is progressive. He's breaking new ground."

Some visitors find it a repulsive reminder of the lampshades Hitler's Nazis fashioned out of the skin of Jews. For others, that flag and others on display bring back painful memories.

Standing beside the soiled flag placed on the museum floor, 43-year-old veteran Fred Quihuis said, "The first thing that came to my mind when I looked at the thing was my cousin in a casket. He was killed in Vietnam. He stepped on a land mine."