South African artist Ed Young claims he was the victim of censorship at the Armory Show this week. In a statement to ARTnews, Young tells he was asked to reconsider submitting a banner emblazoned with the words BLACK PUSSY, by Focus section curators Julia Grosse and Yvette Mutumba. In response, Young wrote and distributed a press release throughout the fair with a reproduction of the work and a statement explaining: ‘The art world hates black people. It hates them as cultural producers, as subjects of art, and seems to only willingly engage with them as objects of consumption. This is, in essence, what Ed Young was alluding to with his text based piece ‘BLACK PUSSY’. Young’s gallery described him as ‘controversial and a little bit juvenile’ and ‘a little bit of a naughty boy’.
3 March 2016.
