Emergency Meeting re: Capobianco Gallery

Subject : emergency meeting re: Capobianco Gallery





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A meeting has been called for 7pm, Tuesday, June 1st at LIVE WORMS GALLERY, 1345 Grant
ave., North Beach, to show support for Lori Haigh, to voice our outrage, talk about the meaning
of this attack and figure out what we can do.

You are getting this invitation because you signed-up on the list that was passed around saturday
when 75 to 100 people gathered outside the now closed Capobianco gallery to show support for
Lori and outrage at this assault on artists & galleries, on the freedom of _expression, on the right &
ability of people to criticize and oppose the brutal and unjust war in Iraq. Further, people were
outraged to hear that the police, after the death threats and such a brutal physical attack, far
from offering to help safeguard the gallery, advised her to close it down! What's happened at the
Capobianco Gallery is an attempt to silence dissent and clearly fits into the Bush-Cheney-Ashcroft
program of stifling criticism & oppostion in the realm of art and culture, like the high school
teachers who have been fired & students who have been suspended for writing poems and
making art critical of Bush and the government.
Guy Colwell's painting, "The Abuse," a depiction of a scene of torture at the hands of the U.S.
military at Abu- Gharaib prison, well-documented in news reports, is a powerful artistic indictment
of the death machine in Washington D.C. that is occupying Iraq and attempting to turn the U.S.
into a police state. We artists, activists and North Beach neighbors must continue to rally to
to defend Lori and the gallery and Guy Colwell's art! THIS IS SAN FRANCISCO, BEACON OF
STRUGGLE AND CREATIVITY! As expressed saturday at the rally, we cannot allow this
assault to go down unanswered. We need to come together. Come to the meeting on
Tuesday & invite others in the community (by word-of-mouth or email).

Here are some suggestions from people at the saturday rally:
1: Write letters to the editor
2: Post-up pictures of the painting & other anti-war art work all over town
3: Send emails of support to Lori Haigh at info [at] capogallerysf.com and Guy Colwell
at guy [at] atelier9.com
4: Spread the word about what has happened to friends, fellow artists & actvists and so on.
5: Demand that city authorities publically and forcefully denounce these attacks.
6: Set-up a vigil of neighbors and supporters at the gallery.
7: Hold a freedom of _expression/anti-war forum in Washington Square park

This has now become a national issue.The community needs to rally support for Lori, the gallery
and Guy Colwell's art and the right to dissent. This attack can be a catalyst for people to show
we will not be intimidated by the hate-mongers who are behind these attacks, that not only will
we stand tall in defense of Lori & Guy Colwell, but that we also affirm the freedom of _expression,
the right to dissent and the importance of art in a time of war.


Larry Felson (Refuse & Resist!--check out R&R's website. We are working to build a national
movement to stop the wartime repressive measures: http://www.refuseandresist.org. Especially look
at the"Artist's Network.")

[BELOW IS THE AP STORY ON SATURDAY'S RALLY CARRIED
ALL OVER THE COUNTRY)




Gallery Owner Attacked for Iraq Abuse Art

Sat May 29, 7:52 PM ET



Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - A San Francisco gallery owner bears a painful reminder of the nation's unresolved anguish over the incidents at the Abu Ghraib prison — a black eye delivered by an unknown assailant who apparently objected to a painting that depicts U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners.


AP Photo



The assault outside the Capobianco gallery in the city's North Beach district Thursday night was the worst in a string of verbal and physical attacks directed at Lori Haigh since the artwork was installed at her gallery on May 16.

San Francisco police are investigating and have stepped up patrols around the gallery. But Haigh decided to close the gallery indefinitely, citing concern for the safety of her two children, ages 14 and 4, who often accompanied her to work.

Guy Colwell's painting, titled "Abuse," depicts three U.S. soldiers leering at a group of naked men in hoods with wires connected to their bodies. The one in the foreground has a blood-spattered American flag patch on his uniform. In the background, a soldier in sunglasses guards a blindfolded woman.

The painting was part of a show of the Berkeley artist's work that mostly featured pastel-colored abstracts.

Colwell stopped by the gallery Friday, but refused to discuss his work or the reaction to it, saying only, "I'm sorry if this is putting pressure on Lori."

Two days after the painting went up in a front window, someone threw eggs and dumped trash on the doorstep. Haigh said she did not think to connect it to the events at Baghdad's notorious prison until people started leaving nasty messages and threats on her business answering machine.

"I think you need to get your gallery out of this neighborhood before you get hurt," one caller said.

She removed the painting from the window, but the gallery's troubles received news coverage and the criticism continued. The answering machine recorded new calls from people accusing her of being a coward for moving the artwork.

Last weekend, Haigh said a man walked into the gallery, pretended to scrutinize the painting for a moment, then marched up to her desk and spat in her face.

On Thursday, someone knocked on the door of the gallery, then punched Haigh in the face when she stepped outside.

"This isn't art-politics central here at all," Haigh said. "I'm not here to make a stand. I never set out to be a crusader or a political activist."

In closing the gallery, Haigh was forced to cancel an upcoming show featuring counterculture artist Winston Smith.

For Haigh, who opened Capobianco a year and a half ago, having the chance to work with prominent artists fulfilled a lifelong dream.

"I kept thinking someday I'll have enough of a reputation where I could bring in my heroes of the art world, people like Guy Colwell especially," she said.

Haigh has received some expressions of support since closing the gallery. Her favorite: an e-mail whose writer said, "I'm sure that a few and dangerous minds don't understand that they have only mimicked the same perversity this painting had expressed."