D.C. drawn to politics even in art projects
By The Associated Press
08.29.02
WASHINGTON — The idea seemed simple enough. Scatter some whimsical donkey and elephant statues around the nation's capital to coax some smiles. So what do the locals do? Turn it into politics, as usual.
Washington's venture into one of those citywide art projects inspired by Chicago's Cows on Parade has landed the city in court — twice. Organizers were accused of being too political in one case and, in the other, of not letting an artist be political enough. The American Civil Liberties Union got involved.
One painted elephant even drew a complaint from the Marines.
"We're in a city that tends to take itself very seriously," said Tony Gittens, executive director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which organized the summertime exhibit modeled after projects in dozens of cities over the past four years.
Some legal opponents say the commission created the problem by choosing to bedeck Washington with the symbols of the Democratic and Republican parties.
After all, no one sued Orlando, Fla., over its lizards or raised a stink about the painted pigs in Peoria, Ill.
"Why would we get sued?" librarian Sue Herring, who served as Peoria's "pig lady," said between hoots of laughter when asked about any legal troubles. "You're just living in the wrong area of the country, that's all. I think that's the saddest thing I've heard in a long time."
The Green Party isn't chuckling. It considers the "Party Animals" display of 100 donkeys and 100 elephants, each 4½-feet tall and weighing 800 pounds, an affront to all other political parties, as well as to independent voters.
"What if the commission had chosen just the elephant?" said Scott McLarty, spokesman for the D.C. Statehood Green Party. "The Democrats would have gone on the warpath."
The Greens demanded equal time — giant sunflowers, their symbol, displayed in polyurethane alongside the other parties' animals.
U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy threw out their lawsuit.
But animal-rights activists, aided by the ACLU, refused to be muzzled.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals convinced another judge that the city violated its members' First Amendment right to protest the treatment of circus animals when it rejected their portrayal of a weeping, shackled elephant.
The elephant, which cost PETA $5,000 to sponsor, was scheduled to be installed on a busy street corner today, about a month before the temporary exhibit begins coming down.
It wears a feathery headdress and a blanket proclaiming, "The circus is coming, see shackles — bull hooks — loneliness all under the big top."
The city's argument that the elephant will dampen the exhibit's festive tone, designed to foster "an atmosphere of enjoyment and amusement," was rejected by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon.
Leon said the arts commission was inconsistent, accepting other entries with political messages: A mosaic-covered elephant bears the words "Just Say No to Ivory." A Monopoly board-style elephant, called "GOPoly," has squares labeled "$TAX CUTS$" and "Social Security?"
As the city mulled a possible appeal, Gittens said the art exhibit has achieved its goals: "to have fun and to attract tourists."
Still, putting on "Party Animals" has been no party.
Washington's more aggressive art critics smashed a donkey with a baseball bat and pounded an elephant with a steel bar, prompting the city to post a $5,000 reward.
"They were cowardly acts by people who came in the middle of the night," said Gittens, adding that other cities' artwork has been vandalized, too.
The commission moved an elephant away from the Marine Barracks on Capitol Hill — the nation's oldest Marine Corps post, dating to 1801 — after military officials complained it gave the impression they were endorsing the Republican Party.
Some corporate sponsors felt obliged to pay for two animals — an elephant and a donkey — to remain bipartisan.
The animals will come off the streets Sept. 20, more than a week earlier than planned, because of fear of damage by protesters expected to be in the capital for the International Monetary Fund's Sept. 29 meeting, said project manager Alexandra MacMaster. They will be displayed on a hotel's grounds until they are auctioned in late October to raise money for arts grants.
While tourists and children are drawn to the colorful creatures, some locals are ready to say goodbye.
"Two-hundred or something, it's too much. They're an eyesore," said cabbie Jay Vaughn.
But in a city where there's always another opinion, Treasury Department tax analyst Gordon Wilson offered his. Pausing on his lunch break to admire a side-by-side donkey and elephant, he commented, "We don't get much whimsy around here."