Herberger Censorship Will Have Long-Term Impact

It's canceled.

Mike Ford

The Sodomite by Mike Ford

Ronnie Ray Mendez's Maria

That's what a box office clerk told artist Ronnie Ray Mendez on Friday, August 30, when he arrived at Herberger Theater Center to pick up promotional postcards for the exhibition "Prime Example," a group show curated by local gallery owner (and longtime New Times contributor) Robrt Pela and scheduled to open less than a week later, on September 5.

"An e-mail would've been nice," Mendez says.

Later that Friday, Herberger did send out an e-mail to its subscribers. The e-mail reiterated that "Prime Example" was canceled. Instead of the new exhibit featuring works from Mendez, Mike Ford, Suzanne Falk, and Geoffrey Gersten, "Show and Tell," curated by Phoenix artist Peter Bugg, would continue through early October.

The e-mail offered no further explanation, and the arts community cried foul.

"Welcome to Phoenix, where censorship is okay," Pela wrote on the show's Facebook event page. "And where corporate gallery owners apparently don't care that artists have spent months creating art for an upcoming exhibit."

Although it took a few days for all the details to come out, it's clear that "Prime Example" was canceled because Herberger objected to the content of some of the artwork Pela had chosen. Herberger officials have denied in multiple statements that this was an act of censorship, offering three different explanations as to why the show, which was on the books for two years, was abruptly called off.

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Herberger Censorship Will Have Long-Term Impact