Lewiston artist denied NEA funding for exhibit

PORTLAND – The denial of a federal grant to show off the work of an unconventional artist from Lewiston has renewed questions about the role of politics in promoting art and culture.

The Maine College of Art in Portland sought $42,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for an exhibit next summer by visual and performance artist William Pope.L, whose work takes on such issues as class and race.

The NEA reportedly had delayed its decision on the grant because of the exhibit’s potential for controversy.

“One good thing about it is that people get to know what their government wants culture to be,” said Pope.L, who also teaches theater at Bates College in Lewiston. He said the decision jeopardizes the exhibit, “William Pope.L: eRacism.”

Eight Maine applications listed as successful grants were being released Wednesday. Those applications will bring a total of $143,000 to the state to support poetry, dance, music, visual arts and literature.

An NEA spokesman would not say why the grant for the Pope.L exhibit was denied.

“As a matter of long-standing practice, we comment only on successful applications. That’s out of respect to the applicant,” said Mark Weinberg, director of NEA’s office of communications.

Pope.L and college officials expressed disappointment at the decision.

“There were no specific reasons why, nor would they tell us why on the telephone,” said Tim Kane, vice president for advancement and college relations at MECA.

Kane said he was told only that the application made it through the NEA’s peer-review process and was approved by the National Council for the Arts, but was declined by the acting NEA chairman, Robert Martin.

College officials said they plan to move forward with the exhibit and are pursuing other grants to fill the gap. “Pope.L is a nationally acclaimed African-American artist who engages important issues of our time,” MECA President Christine J. Vincent said.

Pope.L’s work includes sculpture and unconventional installation pieces, as well as performance art that has attracted attention in major cities.

He attracted congressional attention and some criticism several years ago for walking around New York City wearing a white cardboard penis that extended to 14 feet, as a commentary on “the supremacy of white phalluses.”

In recent years, Pope.L, 46, has crawled through New York’s Bowery district wearing an Armani suit, and eaten the Wall Street Journal while sitting on a toilet mounted atop a 10-foot tower in Boston’s financial district. At the 1997 Maine Arts Festival, he spent a hot summer day buried up to his neck to call attention to “those who struggle with everyday disabilities and inabilities.”