Is Art Controversy Good For Art?

If you have not, so far, followed the story of the removal of "A Fire In My Belly" by David Wojnarowicz from the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian, this piece from WNYC will bring you mostly up to speed. 

And here is the lengthy piece that triggered the uproar.

In Hartford, Real Art Ways is now exhibiting the work as part of a somewhat coordinated national protest against its removal from the Smithsonian. Spaces and museums around the country are showing the work. On Thursday's Colin McEnroe Show, Will K. Wilkins of Real Art Ways will join several other arts leaders to discuss the controversy. 

One question worth pursuing: does the world of art almost need this kind of push-back? Are conservative politicians like Boehner and Cantor doing art a favor? Having covered the fine arts off an on for decades in Hartford, I've noticed that passion and imperilment seem to go hand in hand. The arguments over Mapplethorpe and Carl Andre's Stone Field Sculpture made average people care and reminded art insiders that some causes are worth fighting for. 

Censorship stirs the passions. Obviously, there is a harm done by the suppression of art that may well exceed the benefit of getting everybody riled up. And the values in that equation may be tested sorely if this case, in which the leaders of the Republican majority-elect in the House flexed their muscles and frightened the Smithsonian with talk of defunding, is any example.