New York Academy of Art: Facebook, Curator of Culture: Salon des Refusés

EDITOR'S NOTE
After the Academy posted a response on this blog to facebook's removal of Steven Assael's artwork (Jan 31, 2011, 5:22pm), The New York Times, Gawker, MSNBC, The Cornell Daily Sun, The Register, ARTINFO, and other news sources have covered this story. Please see below for photos facebook has removed from the Academy and Academy Alum's accounts.

Where do you draw the line?

Steven Assael, "Simone" ink on paper.

Artwork image removed by facebook, 1/31/2011
from the Academy's "Uncovered" exhibition on facebook.

Alyssa Monks, (MFA 2001) "Press" oil on canvas, 2008.
Artwork image removed by facebook, 9/2010.
Alyssa's original facebook account was disabled.

Richard T. Scott (MFA 2007) "Hermetica" oil on canvas.
Artwork removed by facebook, 1/30/2011

John Wellington (MFA 1990) "Break Clean From the Past" oil on aluminum.
Artwork removed by facebook, 2/13/2011
(John has since posted "facebook-is-keeping-you-safe"
censored images on his facebook page.)

Judy Fox, "Venus" 2004. Filled Resin, Casien 67 x 21 x 17
Artwork removed by facebook, 2/22/2011
from the album of the Put Up or Shut Up exhibition
by outstanding faculty of prestigious MFA programs
in the greater NYC area. Also included in the exhibition
were artists Vito Acconci, Jesse Bransford, Maureen Connor,
Patricia Cronin, Vincent Desiderio, Julie Heffernan, Edgar Jerins,
Sharon Horvath, Keith Mayerson, and John Torreano.
________
NB: This image was removed from the Academy's facebook page
after this article was published in The New York Times.

Gary Schneider, "Young Man, 1908, 2008" pigmented ink
on paper, 52.5 x 38.5 in.
Artwork removed by facebook, 2/22/2011
from the album of the Put Up or Shut Up exhibition.
________
NB: This image was removed from the Academy's facebook page
after this article was published in The New York Times.

Patricia Cronin "Canto VI: Circle Three, The Gluttons"
watercolor on paper, 60 x 40 in.

Artwork removed by facebook, 3/1/2011

from the album of the Put Up or Shut Up exhibition.
________
NB: This image was removed from the Academy's facebook page

after the story was published in The New York Times
and also by many other news sources.

Artwork: Judy Fox, "Venus" 2004. Filled Resin, Casien 67 x 21 x 17
Article: The New York Times

Removed by facebook, 3/10/2011

from the Has Your Artwork Been Removed By Facebook? album.

This album has been created to track artworks that have been

removed from the Academy's page. The "offending" artworks appear

with text from articles posted by news sources reporting on

facebook's censorship of artwork on the Academy's page.

JUNE 13, 2011, 3 months later...

After three email messages of "photo removed" received today (in these instances, facebook does not tell you which photo has been removed, so now we're on the hunt for them...), facebook - in an unexpected turn - sent us this "Please Review" notice upon login:

"We've received one or more reports that content you posted violates Facebook policies.
We have not yet taken any action. If this content threatens or harasses anyone,
or contains nudity or excessive violence, please remove it immediately to avoid
your account being warned, blocked, or disabled.

If you don't think this content violates our policies, you don't need to do anything.
If you choose not to remove this content, please keep in mind that
Facebook may still take action on the content and your account."

Of course we don't think this content violates facebook's policies. The images that the New York Academy of Art (an internationally-respected graduate school teaching traditional skills and techniques in the service of vital contemporary art with an emphasis on the human figure) has posted are of student, faculty and alumni artwork. The Academy was founded by Andy Warhol, has been visited by President Clinton, and even enjoyed patronage conferred by HRH Prince of Wales.

Where facebook has become an entity that can affect real cultural ripples, as in the "toppling" of Hosni Mubarak, how does the perception of artwork weigh in? The question remains: how and who shall evaluate what - in a public forum - the public may see?

Art has always asked and responded to this question. If the name of the game is communication and the spread of ideas, should a social network use different criteria to evaluate (art) content than an art history book or a museum?