Sex censored from Pop Art exhibition

By Lauren O’Connor
Artist and sculptor Michael Kitching claims his artwork ‘Bride & Groom, Kiss Me’ (1978) was censored from a Sydney Pop Art exhibition because it contained a phallus.
After an invitation to be shown at Chippendale art gallery Spot 81 Mike Kitching’s work was removed by the apparently ‘disgusted’ curator Peter Pinson.
The work, ‘Bride & Groom, Kiss Me’ (pictured), was created in the 1970s and has never been exhibited except in the couple’s home. Kitching said he could think of ‘nothing more maddening’ than the work being censored out of an exhibition.
“I just found that terribly pathetic. I just find it terribly simple,” he said. “I’ve had dozens of people look at it. They see what it means and they laugh…They just laugh because it’s friendly.”
The two stainless steel figures were part of an industrial series inspired by the artists’ early marriage and honeymoon.
“It was two figures, Antonia and I got married about 44 years ago. I called it ‘Bride & Groom’ and I did a series of them, they’re dotted all over the place they’re all quite different,” he said.
The exhibition, showing until February 8, is called ‘Aspects of Australian Pop and Popism.’ It includes work by well-known artists such as Ken Reinhard, Martin Sharpe and Sir Peter Blake.
Kitching’s wife Antonia, an artist herself, delivered two works ‘Rain Poem’ and ‘Bride & Groom, Kiss Me’ to the gallery. The contentious artwork in question contains stainless steel, moulded, male genitalia and spherical breasts.
Gallery Director Michelle Perry seemed to like the sculpture, so it was unexpected when the work was removed from the gallery, Antonia said.
“He picked it up and, quick as can be took it outside. I said ‘where were you in the seventies Peter? It was all sex, drugs and rock & roll.’”
Prof Pinson says the sculpture was removed because it was not quintessentially Pop Art and because he was prioritising space for painter Ken Reinhard.
“The issue was: ‘which is the best work to represent the spirit of Pop and Popism’… simply because a work is erotic does not make it Pop,” he said.
“Some people would see nude figures as erotic, so pop artists sometimes do play on levels of meaning.”
“To be frank Mike was not as central a figure in the Australian Pop Movement… whereas Ken has more than one work [featured] because of his importance and centrality and his continuing involvement in the spirit of pop art,” Prof Pinson said.
Contrary to this the Spot 81 gallery website summarised the era as being sexually explicit, humorous and rejecting deeper meaning.
“[Pop Art assimilated] the “look at me” assertiveness, the cheeky vulgarity, the calculated brashness, and a disdain for subtle layerings of meaning. Pop conjured with kitsch aesthetics, sexualised imagery…” the site says.
The Kitchings say they were ‘rushed to exhibit’ so the show could coincide with the Pop To Popism exhibition at NSW Art Gallery. Antonia rejects the idea that ‘Bride & Groom, Kiss Me’ does not subscribe to the Pop Art school.
“It was more pop that anything else. It was built in 1978; it’s so totally pop it’s unbelievable!” she said. “The one he chose, ‘Rain Poem,’ that was built in 2003. It’s not even of the era.”
Prof Pinson told City Hub it was apparent before the works were delivered that only one would be shown because of their quality and space limitations.
‘Rain Poem’ was chosen for its colour blocking and use of text, both characteristics of Pop Art.
“We chose the work that, as we say, had a number of ingredients that one could in a scholarly way say ‘this is in the exhibition…that relate to sources of popular culture,’” he said.

Prof Pinson told City Hub it was apparent before the works were delivered that only would be shown because their quality and space limitations.

‘Rain Poem’ was chosen for its colour blocking and use of text, both characteristics of Pop Art.

“We chose the work that, as we say, had a number of ingredients that one could in a scholarly way say ‘this is in the exhibition…that relate to sources of popular culture,’” he said.