Sculptures of naked men? Not on our dollar, says this SC county council

Greenville County Council Tuesday night decided not to give the Hispanic Alliance of South Carolina a grant to market a temporary art installation some have called pornographic and demonic.

The $7,500 would have come from the county’s annual allocation of accommodations tax, which is levied on hotel room rentals.

After the decision, a Simpsonville woman started a GoFundMe page to help the alliance. By Wednesday afternoon, 120 people had donated $5,172 toward the $7,500 goal.

The “Wings of the City” exhibit in downtown Greenville’s Falls Park, by Mexican artist Jorge Marin, features nine sculptures that have been displayed in other cities and countries. Most of the sculptures show the form of a man with a beak mask and wings. One, located inside the Peace Center for the Performing Arts shows male genitalia.

Greenville City Council, after a recommendation by its Arts in Public Places Commission, approved the installation, which opened April 1 and will close in October.

Two members of the Hispanic Alliance spoke in favor of the funding. Francisco Sanchez called the council’s withdrawal of the grant “misguided” and “government censorship.”

He said while the exhibit was in Houston, a newspaper there described it as breathtaking in its humanity and called it a guardian of Houston.

Greenville resident Ellen Stevenson called it “world-class public art” that promotes a conversation in the community.

But several others criticized the sculptures.

Simpsonville resident Barbara Gibbs said the work was not appropriate.

“We’re the Bible belt, or at least we used to be,” she said.

Greenville is a place of Southern charm and Christian values, a place of Southern heritage, she said.

Retired school counselor Edna Watson decried the harm so-called pornographic materials do to children.

“We have a morality crisis,” she said.

Both city and council councils have been flooded with public comments on both sides for the past several weeks.

City Council members have defended Marin’s work, saying it reflects well on Greenville as an inclusive and progressive city.

County Councilor Liz Seman spoke in favor of funding the exhibit, saying the grant was fully vetted by the county’s accommodations tax.

“We are not in the position to curate art,” she said. They don’t tell Artisphere what artists to invite or the Scottish Games which games to hold, she said.

Councilor Dan Tripp said he disagreed because they are the elected officials charged with the responsibility of representing the will of the people.

“We need to represent those who have a different view,” he said.

The council voted 7-5 to withhold the marketing funding.

The largest amount of accommodations tax funded by County Council on Tuesday was $75,000 to help pay for the Golf Channel to air the BMW Pro-Am. Next was $63,750 for the Scottish Games.

The $7,500 earmarked for the Hispanic Alliance will instead go to boost Artisphere, which was awarded $8,000.

The sculpture controversy has prompted dueling petitions at change.org. The pro-sculpture group garnered about 6,500 signatures; the anti, 1,600.

This story was originally published June 2, 2021 at 8:58 AM.