While roaming about town in search of visually appealing sights, the Prowler couldn't help but notice the surprising abundance of venues for viewing art--juice bars, restaurants, coffeehouses, hair salons, retirement communities and the Town Council Chambers, to name a few. And, of course, there are the Los Gatos Museum Association's Forbes Mill Regional History Museum and the Los Gatos Museum of Art and Natural Science (a.k.a., the Tait Museum).
It was at the latter locale that the Prowler noticed an interesting metamorphosis surrounding a painting that itself depicts a morphing, of sorts, between an elephant's head and a nude man's body. When Los Gatos artist Susan Grant's acrylic painting "Elephant Man" first appeared in the museum's current show, the suggestively shaped tip of the beast's trunk hung right between his legs, in front of the rest of his anatomy.
Apparently, some folks didn't like the visual double-entendre and complained, so the painting came down. It is now hanging again, albeit with a "censored" sign over Elephant Man's questionable crotch.
According to the artist, the painting was not meant to be offensive, but rather a wry commentary on penile enlargement and the hoopla surrounding surgeon Melvyn Rosenstein, recently barred from performing penile enlargements.
Was this really so offensive? The Prowler thinks not. This cat does not condone indecent exposure, obscenity or pornography, but Grant's painting was none of these. Compared to the lurid details used to describe the aforementioned hoopla, the Elephant Man painting was almost tasteful.
Besides, everyone knows what happens when you tell kids not to wade into the creek alone--they go and do it because it suddenly seems all the more tempting.
With that "censored" sign so well-hung, don't you think it might draw a lot more attention to the image?
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, October 16, 1996.
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