The artist stops post after Pei College tells him to remove painting based on American politics
The former artist-stay of the Atlantic Veterinary College left his position, saying that the Charlottetown Institution was trying to censor one of his paintings.
Christopher Griffin, who moved from Ottawa to the island of Prince Edoardo in 2023, became the regional college First artist in residence Last November. The unpaid position gave him the opportunity to illuminate some of the spaces of the college community based in Upei.
He aroused the student polar harsh hall with a new mural and created about three or four pieces per week for almost six months, hanging many of them on the walls of college. Animals more in the foreground, a recurring theme in his work.
But Griffin said that the focus of his work began to change after January 20, when Donald Trump was sworn as president of the United States for the second time.
Since then the republican politician has launched a commercial war against numerous countries, including Canada, and has continually reflected on the annexation of this country as “51st state”.
“When my country was threatened by the government of the United States of America … I felt like I had to do something. I had to react,” Griffin said to CBC News on Wednesday.
“My role as an artist is to communicate, so I found the concept of creating a working corpus based on our national anthem.”
One of the paintings of the Griffin series, called Canada And depicting an elephant standing under a small Canadian flag, hanging on the AVC for two months without any concern.
The complaints came with the hanging of a painting called The crossingWhich shows a boat full of lemming that transported a crushed American flag and discolored through a northern northern navigable street.
It is a vision of the famous work of 1851 Washington crossing the Delaware By the German-American artist Emanuel Leutze, depicting the crossing of General George George Washington of the Delaware River with the continental army in 1776 during the American revolutionary war.
“I realized, once I put the American flag, that there would have been some comments, which I welcomed. For me, this was not an anti-American painting and I did much to not do it,” said Griffin. “I chose Lemming because they have the mythology of producing mass suicide by skipping on a cliff or jumping into the water.
“It seemed to me that the United States government was self -inflicted, so it seemed to me a very simple metaphor for me.”
“It’s not the best place,” says Dean
College officials said they received three complaints on The crossingTwo of them by the members of the American Faculty. About a third of the staff and students of the vet college come from the United States.
The dean of the AVC, Dominique Griffon, said that the program of artists in residence was imagined as a way to offer students and staff a peaceful space, given the daily stress of learning and practice of veterinary medicine. He said that Griffin’s work initially adapts perfectly to that vision.
“Safe for me … a few months ago, Chris changed the focus of his work towards a more politically accused work,” said Griffon. “We are not contesting the value in committing itself in this difficult conversation; it is only that the veterinary school is not the best seat for that debate.”
The dean said that the college wanted to continue to show most of his paintings, to whom he maintained the rights of ownership, but to maintain those more controversial elsewhere.
So Griffin was asked to remove The intersection – immediately, according to a Declaration he published on Facebook. He refused.
Griffon said it was the artist’s decision to leave the residence instead.
‘Not an elementary school’
Some students and teachers turned to social media to express disappointment for the administration who asks Griffin to remove the works of art. A thanksgiving card to college signed by students and staff includes support messages for the artist.
For now, his paintings will remain in his art gallery of Charlottetown in the center, from which he regularly manages online auctions of his work for the benefit of food banks and other charitable organizations. He said it is confident that the work done to the vet will soon find a new home.
As for the AVC, Griffin says he does not want any bad will either for university or in his administration. But he does not believe that his art has contributed to a non -safe learning environment.
“It’s not an elementary school, it’s a university,” he said. “If a painting by Lemmings in a boat makes them feel dangerous, they will have a difficult moment.”
