Before I delve into this month’s rant, allow me to offer a brief preface. The subject of this month’s diatribe involves a certain community organization, several members of which I consider friends (or at least Facebook friends). Recent events and actions by a small number of other members of this same organization, however, have compelled me to publicly question their judgment and motivations. I certainly hope my disparagement of this small, yet seemingly quite deserving, minority does not affect my relationship with other, innocent members of this prominent organization.

Now that that’s out of the way, let the haranguing begin!

Unlike some publications, I’m not going to sugarcoat what happened at this year’s Art Melt in Downtown Baton Rouge. The folks from Forum 35 running the show screwed the pooch.

Sure, it was only a small handful of the individuals involved in Art Melt who made some atrocious decisions, but the resulting backlash implicates the whole organization. It’s no different than when one football official on the field makes a couple of bad calls, but the whole crew is summarily dismissed as trash by the coaches, players, fans, and commentators.

First, there was the much-publicized censorship incident involving artist Kenneth Wilks’ black-and-white photograph of a nude woman. Wilks’ entry was one of only 79 selected from the approximately 600 submitted for the juried event, yet the nude portion of his work was taken down and removed from the show at the Shaw Center.

Forum 35 eventually apologized for removing the photograph “without in-depth consideration of its impact on the artistic integrity of the piece, the artist, and the arts community,” but not before they threatened Wilks with arrest and offered the public flimsy excuses.

The first one claimed the work was removed due to concerns that children might see it. You mean it didn’t occur to anyone before that fateful Friday night that amongst the throngs expected to attend the event there might be a few kids? What a surprise!

Hell, when I ran comedy shows, I had people call me to see if it was OK to bring their 15-year-old kids to a standup show at a nightclub that carded people for entry and involved a cover charge. Art Melt, on the other hand, is free and open to the public.

Here’s a good rule to follow: If you put on an event that is advertised as “Free and open to the public,” there will be kids there. That’s because the same folks who are too cheap to pay an admission charge are also likely too cheap to hire a babysitter.

Another justification came from one of the show’s three jurors who said that the removal didn’t amount to censorship because the Brunner Gallery, where Wilks’ piece was displayed, is a private gallery. Since when did Forum 35 start enlisting lawyers to judge Art Melt? This statement sounds less like one from a person who cares about the arts and more like one from an attorney trying to get her client off on a technicality.

The bottom line is, if they thought the piece was too obscene for public consumption, they never should have accepted it in the first place.

It’s interesting how another civic group, A6, was formed to help Baton Rouge become more culturally like Austin, Texas. Sadly, the censorship displayed at Forum 35’s Art Melt reveals that we’re more akin to Arlen, Texas. No wonder so many callers to local talk radio sound like Hank Hill.

Another, less-publicized, but equally horrendous incident occurred a block and a half away on Third Street in front of Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s. From all reports, the main culprit in this episode was the same member of Forum 35 that had Wilks forcibly removed from the Shaw Center by police: Christen Losey-Gregg.

About a dozen artists associated with Icon Studios were displaying their works across the street from (and with the full cooperation of) Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s, just like they did last year on the same night as Art Melt.  In fact, many of these same artists showcase their work on the second floor of B&T every other Tuesday night.

Suddenly, and without even a cursory introduction, some unidentified oaf (presumably with Forum 35) loudly and bluntly asked one artist, Alison Adams, “Is this your stuff?”

I’m so glad to see the folks put in charge of organizing Art Melt have such a respect for local artists that they call the paintings of a local woman (who happens to teach art to inner-city youth) “stuff.”

After she answered affirmatively that it was her “stuff,” he then instructed the entire group to immediately move everything on display from where they were because a band was about to start setting up.

After moving across the street to the sidewalk in front of Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s, the group thought everything was finally cool and they could enjoy the evening. That was until Losey-Gregg reportedly showed up with the attitude of a premenstrual dominatrix.

Actually, that is kind of mean. My apologies to any PMS-suffering dominatrices who might be reading this. You’re professionals and probably deal with other people in a much more courteous manner.

Flanked by police officers and wagging her finger at Adams like a high-school dropout on Maury, Losey-Gregg said Adams had exactly six minutes to move her artwork again or pay a $50 fee to continue displaying her paintings … a block and a half away from the Shaw Center. After rudely yelling at Adams that she and the other artists assembled were not part of Art Melt, Losey-Gregg proceeded to start a timer on her phone to time the six-minute period. Way to debunk that stereotype of women with hyphenated last names.

It seems that Losey-Gregg and a few of her associates were under the impression that the street closure permit signed by the establishments in the affected area entitled Forum 35 to a de facto monopoly on every piece of art with an attached price tag. Too bad no one gave a heads-up to the management at Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s about this, who could have then informed the artists ahead of time.

It’s also too bad that no one involved with Art Melt effectively communicated with B&T concerning the deafening band they planned on setting up on the street right in front of the place. Otherwise, the club wouldn’t have paid top dollar to book a musician from Tennessee to play on the balcony, only to be drowned out by the Spinal Tap-esque sound system below.

Losey-Gregg reportedly even went so far as to tell B&T’s management to remove their drink cart from the sidewalk, even though they filed all the proper paperwork and paid all the appropriate fees to have one there. She saw their cart as competition for the beer wagon down the street that was contracted by Forum 35.

Evidently, she thought the organization she represented owned the street for that night. I say that because, according to at least one report, she actually screamed, “We OWN this street!”

When the nice police officer she had in tow informed her that the club had every right to continue operating the drink cart where it was, she allegedly reacted like one of those demon-possessed princesses on MTV’s My Sweet Sixteen when the father says no. In fact, the whole encounter with her sounded like an entire season of that damn show.

As for the artists on the sidewalk, they eventually scrounged up $200, well short of the $600 ($50 a head) demanded by Losey-Gregg and her Forum 35 enforcers. It appears a couple of Benjamins was sufficient to cease a Third Street shakedown by a few young professionals turned art mobsters.

In return, the gang from Icon Studios was given handwritten, generic receipts with no contact information or anything that said they were from Forum 35 or Art Melt. I know of at least one accountant in Forum 35. I can’t help but wonder if such a receipt would pass muster as proof of a legitimate business expense.

If you’re wondering about me tempering my invective with equal time for the folks implicated in this article, you won’t get it here. There are multiple publications in town with prominent members of Forum 35 in editorial positions.

Conversely, Red Shtick is the only publication that I know of associated with Icon Studios. More specifically, its cofounder, Heath Tullier, is our cover illustrator. Basically, the way I see it, this article is equal time.