Should Art Have Boundaries?

The immediate answer that comes to mind is NO!

I am no art critique, far from it. I have a passion for canines, Weimaraners in particular so I guess my appreciation for art is very limited but in the recent weeks Bill Henson has appeared in the news quite a bit. I had not heard of the man before his name hit the news; on TV, on the radio and in the newspapers.

The continuing news reports about the 13 year old girl posed in nude and photographed by Bill Henson and then those photographs to be part of an exhibition in Sydney got my blood pressure up enough to go crawling the web for more information about this photographer.

See, I have a passionately hideous dislike for those who exploit and abuse children and animals. Those who know me know exactly how I feel about such things!

My web crawling took me to view some images I did not like to see or know that an artist would do such a thing to the young and innocent.

Many have come to Bill Henson's defence however to read of Cate Blanchett's support for the artist was bitterly disappointing. Cate put her name to an open letter to the PM stating,

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Rather this action will encourage a repressive climate of hysterical condemnation.

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Cate recently gave birth to her third child, a brother to her two older boys; Dashiel John 5 and Roman Robert 3.

The obvious question for Cate would she still hold the same position if it were her boys in those images displayed at an exhibition? Perhaps I just don't buy the publicity stunt but Cate really doesn't need to do publicity stunts, she is a well known and respected actor though I have to question how coming out in support of Bill Henson's nude images of 13 year old children will go down with her fans?

She lost me.

She was on the front page of the Herald Sun newspaper Wednesday 28th May 2008 with a headline CATE'S MATES HIT PM.

There has been and continues to be a huge public outcry over these images and it certainly doesn't not help Bill Henson noting,

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I might meet people who have had, for many years, a very intense relationship with one of my pictures hanging on their wall, above their bed . . .

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In the words of Andrew Bolt,

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If he photographed not naked girls but cows, I doubt his works would sell half as well, or hang over so many beds.

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Many images from the web have been removed and many photographs has been taken by police with charges expected to be pressed.

Art CAN NOT and MUST NOT be used an as excuse for abuse and exploitation therefore art MUST have boundaries!