APCOM

Milano, 18 gen. (Apcom) - The Joel Peter Witkin and Jan Saudek photography exhibition, which were scheduled at the Palazzo Reale, have stirred up a lot of controversy within the Milan Council. In the next few days a meeting between the Mayor, Letizia Moratti, and culture town Councillor and art critic Vittorio Sgarbi should, hopefully, disentagle the matter.

The Mayor herself, together with a few other coucillors, had not denied their perplexity regarding the two exhibitions, considered too transgressive. Joel Peter Witkin's works often portray dwarfs, transsexuals, hermaphrodites, and physically deformed people and have often been labeled exploitative. Jan Saudek best-known work is noted for its hand-tinted portrayal of dream worlds, often inhabited by nude or semi-nude figures.

Interviewd by the on-line magazine "Affari" Vittorio Sgarbi condemned the criticisms: "It is a bizarre, peculiar and worrying prospect. Saudek is the most important eastern European photographer and the exhibition is supported bu the Prague Consulate. Witkin is the most renowned living photographer. Artists are entitled to do what they like most. Even Bacon did a caricature of the Pope and nobody would object to that" concluded Sgarbi.