Grist to Eryk's mill

Montage is not child porn, artist tells court
May 28 2003





A montage of a girl with superimposed images of an erect penis and the capt=
ion "Please don't taste" was art and not child pornography, a Melbourne cou=
rt heard yesterday.

Contemporary artist Glen Walls, of St Kilda, has pleaded not guilty to a ch=
arge of possessing a photograph which depicts a child - apparently under th=
e age of 16 - in an indecent manner.

A second charge of producing a material which depicts a child in an indecen=
t manner was struck off by Magistrate Lisa Hannan because of a lack of evid=
ence.

In the Melbourne Magistrate's Court, Walls said he had created the montage =
which police found in his home last year for an exhibition at the Wessel & =
O'Connor art gallery in New York, which also featured the work of controver=
sial American photographer Robert Maplethorpe.

Walls denied the montage was created for prurient or sexual purposes.


He said the phrase "Please don't taste" was a "play on words" and the artwo=
rk was a "play on the image of the 50s ideal of the perfect existence".

Prosecutor Peter Jones said the montage featured a "male person with his ha=
nd on an erect penis in the direction of a young child".

"How can you possibly say that's artistic?" Mr Jones asked. "Why did you ma=
ke that?"

Walls replied: "It's a statement. It's making a political and social statem=
ent in regards to the perfect existence."

Mr Jones asked whether the phrase "please don't taste" was meant to suggest=
the girl "might be thinking about fellating the male penis".

"No," Walls said.

Walls, who won the $40,000 Roche Contemporary Art Prize in 2001, told the c=
ourt he was influenced by artists such as Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol and Rober=
t Maplethorpe.

His lawyer Phillip Priest, QC, said his client was a man who was internatio=
nally regarded and had impeccable character and credentials.

He said the montage was of artistic merit and did not depict an "actual" pe=
rson.

"They (the prosecution) have to prove there was a minor and the minor was u=
nder the age of 16 - that is incapable of proof," Mr Priest said.

But Mr Jones said one could tell the girl was under 16 by the size of her h=
ands and eyes, the way she was dressed and the playhorse on which she was s=
itting.

"It is so obvious the child is under 16, she is one, two, three if that," h=
e said.

Magistrate Lisa Hannan reserved her decision until Thursday.

AAP


–
Ivan Pope
[email protected]
www.ivanpope.com
www.tochki-inc.com

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