Artist Refuses to Play It Safe : Curtis York’s politically provocative performances regularly stir up controversy and anger.

Some observers and art lovers are fretting over whether people who make art are going to turn timid in the face of congressional inquiries into federal arts funding. National Endowment for the Arts budget cuts today, rampant censorship tomorrow: That’s the worst scenario, but, some feel, not an outlandish one. Will artists start reasoning that it’s better to play it safe right now, until all this blows over--thus employing a subtle form of censorship? Will they be hit with their own case of “The Wimp Factor”?

A few may, but don’t count on performance artist Curtis York. A former student of Utah’s Weber State College and the University of Utah, York came to Los Angeles with $50 in his pocket to study with performance artist Rachel Rosenthal. After four years of presenting his own and others’ work, York, 26, who wears leather clothes and sports a Mohawk haircut, has regularly stirred up controversy--and some anger--with a collection of politically provocative pieces.

Take, for example, the working title of a piece planned for Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions: “Autoeroticurtis.” Or his latest, at Highways in Santa Monica: “The United States of Christ.”

That’s nothing compared to an early working title, which was--Jesse Helms, are you listening?--”Flaming Faggot, Burning Witch.”

Actually, York hopes that Helms, or one of his local allies, is listening. “This is especially meant for right-wing Christians to see. If their faith is strong enough, hearing a little truth about history won’t shake it.”

At the same time, York warns: “The time to be polite is over. No one can tell artists what they can and can’t do.”

It is a careful tightrope York is walking with “The United States of Christ.” With his collaborator and longtime friend, author Frosti, the professional name of Scott Simpson, York says his intent is to deliver a warning against trying to bridge the separation of church and state as well as deliver a theatrical message of tolerance.

Not an easy trick, considering the charged emotions surrounding some of the show’s themes, such as abortion rights, and freedom of expression. Though a scene shows one of York’s characters (he plays 15 in all), a Roman Catholic priest, flagellating himself to sexual ecstasy after flubbing a Communion ceremony, he also states: “I can’t stress enough that this isn’t an anti-Christian piece.”

Performance artist Rosenthal said, “He puts himself on the line morally and politically. His pieces are strong, but they’re never a lecture. As a gay man, he feels threatened by religious fanatics and others who would suppress him. He has a fearlessness for confronting hard issues.”

York’s use of complex and clashing currents in his work is consistent, even when it means disturbing his audience and friends. He freely admits that his 1989 show, “Blackout,” was “very sacrilegious and upset a lot of people.” In response to “Meet the Mormons,” which York, targeting the Mormon Church, performed last year with Robert Daniels at Highways, one letter writer to The Times condemned the show for “attacking prejudice with prejudice.”

Frosti, York’s pal since high school, said he was very offended by it, and told York as much. “I knew that Curtis was coming from deep personal pain when he did that show, but the Mormon Church as a whole shouldn’t have been held responsible for some of his terrible experiences. Individuals should have. We were both raised in that religion. He had bad experiences; I didn’t.”

But, York reveals that after staging “Meet the Mormons” he went through “a forgiveness process. I forgave the Mormons I knew growing up, and I forgave myself.” In many ways, that performance was the catalyst for “The United States of Christ.”

Another was Frosti’s research, triggered by his involvement in the pro-choice movement, into Roman Catholic Church history. Meanwhile, York had been performing in others’ pieces, notably John Fleck’s “Blessed Are All the Little Fishes” and the Peter Brosius/Dennis Cooper/Ishmael Houston-Jones work, “The Undead” (at the Mark Taper Forum’s 1989 Taper Lab and planned for the Los Angeles Festival in September).

“I was incredibly busy,” York said, “but the ideas emerging out of Frosti’s research demanded to be played out before an audience.” Delving into Vatican history as a model of what happens when a religious institution assumes the power of the state, Frosti found useful material in books such as “Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy” by ex-priest Peter De Rosa and “Outline of Ecclesiastical History” by B.H. Roberts.

A theatrical strategy emerged from the research, which was to draw parallels (through various characters York portrayed) between past and present. So such episodes as the Catholic involvement in the Inquisition, or the Vatican’s ability to tax many of the royal courts of Europe, are interwoven with American Christian fundamentalist efforts to institutionalize school prayer, ban books or make abortion illegal.

Why focus on Catholicism? “We’re artists in the Western tradition,” said York, “and the Catholic Church has been a powerful political force in the West. It’s what we know. But there’s a broader concern, and that is to show that it’s not healthy for people to practice religious fascism and not know history.

“I was raised a Christian and with Christianity’s humane morals, and I’m glad of that. It would be cool if everyone followed the Golden Rule--’Do unto others . . . ‘--which is what the faith comes down to. But when one’s beliefs cross over from personal choices to attempts to influence others’ choices, that is going too far.”

When York added that “no one should be prevented from practicing their religion,” he meant this in a personal way. As a witch and follower of the Wicca faith, an earth-based religion, he is cognizant of the legacy of the persecution of witches by more traditional religions. “Nothing more could be done to my religion than has already been done to it.”

He winced reporting the methods of torture of suspected homosexuals during the Inquisition in Spain, France and Italy, revealed by Frosti’s research. York said the show is “including historical material that hasn’t been presented publicly before.”

In some ways, York would like to go even more public than he already has. He would like to go back out on the road, possibly disturbing audiences along the way.

“It’s not that I want to be internationally famous or anything,” he said sheepishly, “but I think the content in my pieces deserves to be heard by more people than in L.A. and New York. I’d like to go off the usual performance art circuit, into cities like Tucson and Boise. There are open-minded people there, too.”

“The United States of Christ” continues at Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica, today and April 1, 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $10. (213) 453-1755.