Apropos to the Ed Kienholz retrospective now on display through June 2 at the Whitney, a '60s Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibit of his work was the subject of much controversy. The focus of the broohaha was "Back Seat Dodge," which I assume must be in the current Whitney show. I was a high school art student at the time and can remember well my bewilderment at the farcical behavior of L.A.'s elected officials (and other adults) over the presentation of this piece. "Back Seat Dodge" is a typically Kienholzian facsimile of a funky car with a wire-mesh "couple" making out in the back seat. The L.A. city council went ape over this and saw to their duty of protecting young eyes from such corruption. I seem to recall there was a sort of stand-off between them and the museum, and that the final resolution was the posting of a guard who would open the back door of the Dodge only for the pleasure of adult eyes. The whole thing was a headline story for weeks. The moral of this and other "controversial exhibit" stories is what I call the Inverse Reaction Law of Censorship. For every censorial action there is an equal and opposite reaction which achieves exactly what the censors did not want: publicity and notoriety. The blasphemy of "The Last Temptation of Christ," or Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" or the lyrics of 2 Live Crew, or the homoeroticism of Robert Mapplethorpe would all have passed quietly in the night had it not been for the Inverse Reaction law. Epilogue: "Back Seat Dodge" now resides in the permament collection of LACMA and occasionally appears there on display. Kids and parents and teenagers and old couples wander through the museum and enjoy the art. No one on the L.A. City Council has the slightest interest in their reactions. Watta world. Stephen Nowlin, Vice President Director, Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery Art Center College of Design 1700 Lida Street Pasadena, California 91103 USA (818)396-2397vox (818)405-9104fax [log in to unmask]