Sir: Re: “Full frontal nudity at art gallery,” in the Dec. 10 Chatham Voice.
I was rather startled when reading your newspaper yesterday and observing the self-portrait of local artist Len Jubenville “in the buff.”
I liked the fact that you applied the censor smiley face on the picture in the paper!
Actually, if one reads or watches a lot of the current media on television or in the newspapers, there is a lot more startling or provocative material that goes on in our world today than ever before. Not that I like to see it, and I think our children should probably be shielded from most of it.
Still, provocative so-called “art” and “entertainment” is out there, and hard to hide, considering the proliferation of social media, the Internet and such.
If one wants to go to the art gallery and see this sort of stuff, it’s there, but I don’t think it should be reprinted in our local, “family friendly” publications, at least without something like the smiley face that the newspaper did with the Jubenville picture.
Still your paper did a good job of keeping this story and picture acceptable or clean I guess, by today’s standards.
This painting by Mr. Jubenville is something of a departure from work I have seen done by him. He has done landscapes, plants, birds, many things – all top-of-the-line work. People who may not like the painting featured in last week’s paper should consider that Leonard does more than the piece portrayed.
The Voice’s editor should consider getting in touch with Mr. Jubenville and display some of the other works of art he has done over the years in your paper, so that the readers can see that Len has done a lot more than just pictures of himself.
Frank Doyle
Chatham
