Should a painting of two men kissing come with a warning label?Two artists say no. They are upset that an exhibition in Fort Worth including their work has a “mature content” warning.“I see this as a form of censorship,” said Rafa Esparza, a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. The show, “Cowboy,” at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, features work from more than 25 artists. Press material for the show promised to “disrupt the homogeneous ideal of the cowboy as a white, cisgender American male.”
But shortly after billboards and bus ads celebrated its opening on Sept. 28, the exhibition temporarily closed without explanation. When “Cowboy” reopened, it came with a warning: “This exhibition includes mature content.”
Museum officials have declined to say which pieces within the exhibition the label refers to. That’s left artists and patrons to wonder.That label upset artists Esparza and Fabian Guerrero, who have works in the show. They spoke at an artists talk hosted during the weekend at the museum.Esparza’s large painting, Al Tempo, dominates a wall of the exhibit and features two men in cowboy hats kissing on a dance floor. In front of that painting, an installation by Esparza and Guerrero re-creates a dance hall, with an adobe dance floor and video monitors with cowboys dancing on the screen.“What would it feel like for an artist if someone came in and said, ‘Hey, I’d love to invite you to see the show, but I have to warn you, you’re going to see a painting of a Black cowboy.’ Like, how does that warrant a mature content disclaimer, right?” Esparza said.
“And, like, ‘I want to show you this incredible ‘Cowboy’ exhibit and at the Amon Carter, but, just warning you, you’re going to see a woman riding a horse.’ … If you describe all of the works in the show it becomes very absurd.” Guerrero said he only learned about the exhibit when friends went to see the show and found it closed.
A spokeswoman for the museum declined to respond to the artists’ comments and wouldn’t answer direct questions about the mature content label. Instead, she sent a statement: “As you know, this exhibition is a different view of the American cowboy than we’ve shown at the Carter historically, and we’re so pleased at the way ‘Cowboy’ has been embraced in Fort Worth. We received feedback from members of our community about ‘Cowboy’s content, and we wanted to give visitors a chance to preview the works in advance. We always try to consider the needs of our community, and these adjustments acknowledge their feedback.
We recognize that the Carter welcomes visitors with different perspectives and backgrounds, but ultimately our goal is for everyone to have access to the art.”Other works in “Cowboy” examine gender and sexual identity. Kenneth Tam’s “Silent Spikes” video features shots of men in cowboy hats riding a practice bull, pretending to lasso and discussing masculinity. Laurel Nakadate photographed herself in her underwear sitting on a horse, In another photo, her partially nude body is obscured by smudged fingerprints. But elsewhere in the museum, nude paintings and sculpture are presented without a similar mature content label. Museums and history classes cover painful subjects such as slavery and colonization, Guerrero said. There should be room for joy as well. “Our project, you’re just seeing two men dancing together, and there’s no harm to that.” Jacob Reyes, news coordinator for GLAAD, agreed. “I think when the political environment creates the narrative that our queer identity or trans identity is an attack on American values … we have to respond by portraying our own joy,” he said. “And when I see queer joy represented in media, there’s a part of me that knows that there’s hope.”“Cowboy” is on view through March 23.
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