One of the most renowned figures in art and counterculture, Robert Crumb, has canceled a forthcoming trip to Australia because of an article published in the Sunday Telegraph on 31 July titled “Cult genius or filthy weirdo” and “Smutty Show A Comic Outrage” online.
A few months ago, the Sydney Opera House announced that cartoonist, illustrator and satirist Robert Crumb would be coming to Australia as part of Sydney’s Graphic festival.
Crumb’s influence on the comic book milieu – and the anti-mainstream counterculture movement in general – is nothing short of legendary. What a thrill then, to have such a revolutionary figure of the arts here in our country – for the first time ever! – talking about his famous works like iconic 1970’s strip Keep on Truckin’, his epic graphic interpretation of the bible’s Book of Genesis, and creations Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural.
Of course, thanks to the aforementioned Sydney Telegraph article Crumb has canceled the appearance.
The Telegraph writer behind the piece in question, Jesse Phillips, depicted the artist and his work with a transparently negative skew, kicking off with the sentence: A SELF-CONFESSED sex pervert whose explicit comic drawings cannot be shown in Australia is to deliver a talk and hold a special exhibition at the Sydney Opera House.
Phillips goes on to vilify Crumb’s work through the quotes of other people – including the reliably hysterical federal Attorney General’s department of classification who apparently told Phillips that Crumb’s work cannot be shown in Australia unless he submits his illustrations for classification.
This morning Crumb confirmed that he had canceled the trip, telling The Australian: “It was strong stuff and it made me look very, very bad… All it takes is a few people who overreact to something like that to show up and cause unpleasantness. I have a lot of anxiety about having to confront some angry sexual assault crisis group.”
Wow… Who knew one person in the media could have that much pull! Kanye was on the money when he said no one man should have all that power because, thanks to the transparent agenda of one journalist, everyone else will now miss the opportunity to hear an icon of art and subversion tell his story.
Isn’t that ironic.
Ticket holders can head to the Sydney Opera House website for further details.
Via The Australian
