Woman Crucifix Sculpture at Fair Draws Criticism

A miniature sculpture of a nude woman on a cross has generated about 20 complaints from visitors to the Orange County Fair and has prompted the fair’s fine arts supervisor to consider pulling it from among 200 local artworks on display.

“The fair is marketed as a family environment, and we have to consider the family values of the fair,” said Julie Mayer, the fair supervisor who has yet to decide what if anything to do with the controversial plaster cast sculpture.

The artwork, titled “Christie,” was included among the offerings of local artists put on display when the fair opened Friday. Mayer said about 20 people, or about three a day, have cornered her to register their complaints, mostly to characterize the artwork as sacrilegious.

Early Wednesday, Mayer decided that the number of complaints had reached a level where she felt she had to inform the artist, Charles Young Jr. of Mission Viejo, that fair officials were considering removing the sculpture from the exhibit.

Among the options being considered, Mayer said, are placing the foot-high sculpture in her office for private viewings for those asking to see it, leaving it where it is, or removing it altogether.

Mayer said her decision will ultimately be based on the volume and intensity of the complaints she receives.

The artist, a risk management consultant who works in Lake Forest, figured the work would be controversial, but never imagined that fair officials would consider pulling it out of the exhibit.

“I’m glad it’s creating conversation, but I hate to think it could be pulled from the fair because it’s too controversial and people are complaining,” the 45-year-old Young said. “What happened to free speech?”

The idea of sculpting “Christie” came “as an inspired thought and struck me as a different point of view that hadn’t been expressed before.”

A panel of three judges voted to include the work in the exhibit of some 200 pieces of art, which include terra cotta nude sculptures, ceramic cloth dolls, papier-mache creations, drawings and pastels.

“The artists have a right to express themselves, and the County Fair may be the only venue for some artists to get a public exhibition,” said Paul Apodaca, curator of Native American art at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana and one of the judges.

“I don’t believe any of the judges thought the piece was intended to be offensive, but rather was intended to evoke the struggle and crisis that women find themselves in in society,” he said.

While conceding that the artwork was perhaps “too venturesome a piece for the county fair,” Apodaca said he would like to see the sculpture stay put.

“I’d like to think people could be comfortable with the idea of people experimenting with art in the county,” he said.

Fair officials, however, stressed that it is up to management to decide what goes and stays. All artists sign an agreement to abide by the fair’s rules and regulations, which state that the final acceptance of artwork is up to the discretion of the exhibit’s supervisor.

Mayer said two pieces of artwork during last year’s fair drew a similar amount of outrage but eventually stayed put. She would not describe them.

The Orange County Fair is an agency of the state, not a private enterprise, although it receives very little state money and has become self-sufficient.

General Manager Norbert J. Bartosik said the fair reserves the right to remove any artwork.

“If the piece is controversial and the public complains, well this is a family event and we can take it away,” he said.

But Young disagrees that the work is so objectionable that it should be removed.

“I knew that some would find it hard to take, but I didn’t intend it be offensive,” he said. “Looking at it in terms of being offensive, I believe, is taking it in a narrow-minded view. That kind of narrow view probably got Christ crucified in the first place.”