Queens Artist Named To Mayors Decency Panel

"Art should be censor free," Ivan Lafayette said.
The television program was moderated by Courier publisher Victoria Schneps.
Constance Maltese is one of three Queens residents appointed to the panel by Mayor Rudy Giuliani. They include Mary Ann Mattone, trustee of the Queens Library, and Roderick R. Caesar, pastor of the Bethel Gospel Tabernacle.
Neither Mattone nor Caesar returned calls from The Courier.
Maltese explained that the panels recommendations are appropriate inasmuch as many museums are supported by public funds.
"The group will not concern itself with art that is independently funded," she said.
She expressed the hope that the panel will initiate a public dialogue.
"I hope that in the future art curators will show more sensitivity," Maltese said.
She said there is a "fine line" that needs to be drawn as far as censorship is concerned.
She said the recent Brooklyn Museum exhibit called "Sensation" and a second which included a photograph depicting the Last Supper with a nude self-portrait of the artist as the Christ figure "arent art, but presented in the guise of art."
The Queens portrait painter said the panel "wont come down to censorship."
But she acknowledges that the panel hasnt met yet and she is unclear as to how it will function.
According to City Hall the panel, known as the Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission, will be asked to determine what standards should apply in the spending of public money on art exhibitions that may be deemed offensive.
The chairman of the panel, Leonard Garment, a former Nixon administration official, said last week that critics of the Mayor’s panel needed to "calm down."
He assured New Yorkers that "paintings are not going to be torn down off the walls and theres nothing for people to get agitated about."
Garment said the panels first meeting will be held next week.
The appointment of Commission members set off a fire storm nationally when "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno called the Mayor a "fascist" for his action.
The comedian compared Giulianis efforts to Adolf Hitlers crusade to remove what he called "degenerate art" from German museums in the early years of the Third Reich.
"I think his remarks are terrible," said William Fugazy, chairman of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations and a Giuliani supporter. He said the group planned a letter-writing campaign to get Leno to apologize.