Marquette, Michigan averages 141 inches of snow each year, and is the home of Northern Michigan University. The city is not exactly renowned as a hot bed of either political posturing or cutting edge artistic envelope-pushing. All that changed when the City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center’s “What’s in a Name?” July exhibit went up. The exhibit, funded with tax dollars, is sure to brings howls from GOPsters and right-leaning pundits nationally, and certainly from within our own state, who don’t like it when cutting edge, controversial or confrontational artwork is funded with public money. The exhibit features the work of two artists:

Joe Sobel graduated from Northern Michigan University with a BFA in Art and Design. He is currently pursuing a MFA in photography at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He has worked in areas of painting, drawing, and photography. Most recently Sobel has been concentrating on incorporating video, audio and text in his artwork.

Sean Michael Stimac, also an NMU graduate, holds a BFA in Art and Design and a BS in Art History. The media he works in includes acrylics, enamel, photography, and digital art. Through these various methods and materials, Stimac visually communicates his message, which is often political in nature.

The exhibit includes a provocative piece by Stimac that depicts four Republican governors beneath the Nazi party symbol. Despite complaints, the work will remain on display. Titled “The Faces of American Fascism,” the poster has pictures of Ohio Governor John Kasich, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and Florida Governor Rick Scott under the national insignia of Nazi Germany. The symbol of the Republican Party is encircled in the wreath under the eagle instead of a swastika.

Written in the middle of the poster are the words, “Anti union,” “anti worker,” “anti woman,” “anti elderly” and “anti poor.” At the bottom, it charges viewers to “Rise up! Demand a recall” next to an image of a closed fist.

The exhibit is housed in the lower level of Marquette’s public library, and scheduled to run through July 29th.

The city’s art center provides gallery space for up to a dozen exhibits per year. Nikke Nason, the arts administration director, confirmed that the center is financed through the city’s general fund.

According to the Center’s website, “Exhibitions are curated with consideration for quality of the exhibit, what will be of interest to the community locally, regionally or nationally and suitability of subject matter…. All displays that the art gallery exhibits are suitable for all ages and will not promote discrimination against any person or group.”

So far, the story has been making the rounds of blogs and news sites with names like, conservativeunderground.com, blogpatriot2, freerepublic.com, thetreeofliberty.com and WCBM talk radio.

The irony that it was in Nazi Germany where the government officially approved artwork, between 1933 and 1945, is obviously lost on many of those writers and talk radio hosts concerned that public money was spent mounting a display which features controversial artwork. The Nazis promoted paintings and sculptures that were narrowly traditional in manner and that exalted the “blood and soil” values of racial purity, militarism, and obedience.

It could be argued that Stimac’s piece crosses the line President Obama drew in the political sand during his speech to the 2010 graduating class at the University of Michigan. In that speech, Obama suggested to those present:

….But we cannot expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down. You can disagree with a certain policy without demonizing the person who espouses it. You can question someone’s views and their judgment without questioning their motives or their patriotism. Throwing around phrases like “socialist” and “Soviet-style takeover;” “fascist” and “right-wing nut” may grab headlines, but it also has the effect of comparing our government, or our political opponents, to authoritarian, and even murderous regimes.

The problem is that this kind of vilification and over-the-top rhetoric closes the door to the possibility of compromise. It undermines democratic deliberation….It makes it nearly impossible for people who have legitimate but bridgeable differences to sit down at the same table and hash things out. It robs us of a rational and serious debate that we need to have about the very real and very big challenges facing this nation. It coarsens our culture, and at its worst, it can send signals to the most extreme elements of our society that perhaps violence is a justifiable response…..

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