Judge Bars Wildmon Art Brochure Mailing

A New York judge has barred a conservative religious organization from distributing a brochure containing out-of-context excerpts from a controversial New York artist’s work.

The judge also ruled late Wednesday that the Rev. Donald Wildmon and his American Family Assn., a Tupelo, Miss.-based media watchdog organization, must send a court-approved correction to the 4,000 churches, members of Congress and others who received the pamphlet.

The court rejected multimedia artist David Wojnarowicz’s claim for $5 million in damages, however, and ordered Wildmon’s group to pay the artist a token $1.

Wojnarowicz accused the American Family Assn. of reprinting severely cropped segments of 14 large images he created (for a one-man show titled “Tongues of Flame”) and mailing them in an inflammatory broadside to religious groups and government officials as part of Wildmon’s ongoing attack on the National Endowment for the Arts’ funding of sexually explicit works. The suit was filed in May.

“Tongues of Flame,” which was funded in part by a $15,000 NEA grant, is on display at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and runs through Sept. 5 in conjunction with the Los Angeles Festival.

The images excerpted in Wildmon’s brochure, which were not identified as being taken out of context, all contain strong sexual or religious overtones. Many of the cropped fragments included depictions of homosexual intercourse.

U.S. District Judge William C. Connor barred further publication of the pamphlet, “Your Tax Dollars Helped Pay for These Works of ‘Art,’ ” claiming it had probably harmed the artist’s professional and personal reputation.

Judge Connor said that because no gallery or museum exhibit of Wojnarowicz’s work had been canceled, the artist had not proved financial damage and only awarded him $1 of the $5 million in damages he sought to recover in the lawsuit.

Wojnarowicz applauded the decision as a blow to forces attempting to stifle creative expression.

“Wildmon used distortion, half-truths and manipulation of facts and the judge in this case has determined that such practices violate the law,” Wojnarowicz said in a telephone interview. “If this ruling inspires other people whose rights have been trampled to realize that you can fight back and win, I think it’s great.”

The Rev. Donald Wildmon could not be reached for comment, but his brother Allen Wildmon, the American Family Assn.’s associate director, said the group does not view the judge’s ruling as a defeat.

“When somebody sues you for $5 million dollars and a judge only awards him $1, I think that’s about as close to a victory that you can get,” Wildmon said. “We feel the judge placed the proper value on Wojnarowicz’s work--we feel that $1 is about all it’s worth.”

Wojnarowicz acknowledged that he felt shortchanged: “What I want to know is whether I get the dollar in cash or check?”