Week 6: Contemporary Arts Center

This weekend kicked off a "love gift" of free admission for the next three years at the Contemporary Arts Center, courtesy of endowments from The Johnson Foundation, The 50 and Macy's. We decided to join the fray and visit, since the date coincided with the launch of Do Ho Suh's new exhibition, Passage, as well as the current exhibits of Robert Mapplethorpe: After the Moment and Pia Camil's Skins.

The CAC is a non-collecting museum without a permanent collection, so all exhibits are temporary and ever-changing. Twenty-five years ago the museum was at the center of an historic controversy when then-director Dennis Barrie brought Mapplethorpe's The Perfect Moment exhibit to staid, conservative Cincinnati. Hamilton County prosecutors charged Barrie and the museum itself with obscenity - the first time criminal charges had been levied against a museum in the United States. For an excellent in-depth of the story, read this Washington Post article.

As an aside, prior to the ruckus created in Cincinnati, I saw some of the controversial Mapplethorpe photographs during an exhibit at my alma mater, Wright State University, called Andres Serrano/Robert Mapplethorpe: You Decide, which ran Feb. 23-March 16, 1990. The university's art center warned visitors there was controversial subject matter, and I honestly cannot recall anyone getting their knickers in a twist over the show - and Serrano did the Piss Christ thing, which to me seems a bit more heretical than a bullwhip up the jacksie, but what the hey. I'll just say it takes a lot more than that to offend Daytonians. Am I right?

Sadly, photography was prohibited in After the Moment, so we are unable to entertain readers with selections from the showcases of hate mail the center received. You'll just have to go to the CAC and read them yourself, if possible. Trust us, it's worth it! It was also heartening to see the stories, editorials and editorial cartoons penned by Enquirer colleagues past and present, who rightly saw the case as a First Amendment issue and did the city proud with their fine work.

Mexican artist Pia Camil's exhibit consisted of some works in wood, copper and ceramic, as well as some messed up pieces of clothing (skins, if you will), which visitors were encouraged to try on. Why not?

Portrait of the author in a Camil "Skin"

We both really enjoyed seeing Korean-American artist Suh's exhibition, a series of life-sized fabric replicas of places he has lived. The attention to detail is astonishing and well-executed.

Do Ho Suh's Blueprint, thread embedded in cotton paper

Do Ho Suh's "Boiler Room, London Studio," made of polyester fabric and stainless steel tube

Detail of Suh's Boiler Room, London Studio

Information on Boiler Room, London Studio

Suh's stairway. So lifelike people wanted to climb it

One room featured various home fixtures rendered in polyester fabric and steel tubing, including this bog

and this sink

and this oven

No home is complete without heating!

Detail of the radiator. Very similar to the ones we had in our Newport home

Do Ho Suh's "Reflection"

A close-up shows the intricately sewn detail of "Reflection."

The Contemporary Arts Center is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Monday and 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday-Friday. See After the Moment and Skins through March 13, 2016 and Passage through Sept. 11, 2016.