AIDS Photos Provoke A Storm

Copy Berg, a Bridgehampton artist, has spent the past 20 years in the invidious position of being famous, but not for his work.

Last month, with a major retrospective opening at Rutgers University's Robeson Gallery, he seemed finally to have diverted the spotlight to his art. But controversy continues to dog his heels - the show's content has provoked protests from faculty members, requests that the show be closed, and questions from the student body about censorship and freedom of expression.

Mr. Berg was the subject of a 1974 trial involving his dishonorable discharge from the Navy for homosexuality. As a result of the landmark case, any service member dismissed on grounds of homosexuality today must receive a fully honorable discharge.

Turned To Art

After leaving the Navy, Mr. Berg, who was born Vernon Edward Berg 3d, wrote a book about his case and then turned full time to art, obtaining a master's degree in design from the Pratt Institute and apprenticing with the Photorealist Charles Bell.

Diagnosed H.I.V.-positive in 1986, he made the decision that in the time he had left he would paint what he wanted, even if it didn't sell. In 1994, the year after his longtime companion, Paul Nash, died of AIDS, he himself was hospitalized for the first time and nearly died.

Which made it all the more poignant that it was his work that was chosen by Kathy Schnapper, director of the Robeson Gallery. She had been asked by Mapping No Boundaries, a tri-state program that promotes AIDS awareness, to put on a show about AIDS.

Sex In Context

"I wanted an exhibit with balance," said Ms. Schnapper, saying she had seen a lot of "depressing" work. "Copy is a very, very good artist whose work covers everything from anger to playfulness to anxiety."

"I think it's a very important show. There is sexual content - there had to be, since it is about AIDS - but I worked very hard to put it in context. It celebrates the joy of sex as well as the sadness - I wanted to show a full life."

The photographs that caused the controversy are in a small "back room" at the gallery, deliberately created, said Ms. Schnapper, to embrace Mr. Berg's personal life. There are paintings of his life in the military, portraits of his father and Mr. Nash, paintings of his house in Bridgehampton - and the photographs, taken by the photographer Marcus Leatherdale, of Mr. Berg and his lover.

"We commissioned the photographs after we both discovered we had AIDS," said Mr. Berg. "We wanted to record ourselves when we were looking good."

Mr. Berg is naked in some photographs (Mr. Nash is not), sometimes wearing sado-masochistic outfits. They progress over the years, with the two men together, Mr. Nash looking more and more ill, and end with Mr. Berg alone.

In one, "Howl," he has his head back, screaming. In another, the most controversial, he is ejaculating.

Not There For Art

After seeing these photographs, a Rutgers faculty member asked that the show be dismantled. In the student newspaper, someone (who hadn't seen the show) declared, "That stuff is sick; it isn't art."

What seems to have caused much of the controversy is that the gallery is also used for receptions. Word from the provost's office reached Ms. Schnapper of "distress" that guests might be embarrassed.

"It's a bit like a catering hall situation," said the gallery director. "They're not there for the art."

For one event, she compromised and closed the back room for an hour. But a second reception was moved and held in the foyer immediately outside the gallery, which remained open.

A forthcoming event, a performance scheduled for March 5, has been moved from the gallery to a theater space.

"Inappropriate"

"The office of multicultural affairs said the exhibit was 'inappropriate,'" said Barbara Hunt, who organized the Mapping No Boundaries project.

"It's a storm in a teacup," she said. "There are some people who don't want to see photographs of a nude man, let alone a nude gay man or, heavens forfend, a nude gay man with AIDS."

"I feel it's particularly pernicious that they're being allowed to get away with this on a university campus, of all places - the one place where there should be an arena for this kind of show, an openness of mind."

Student Debate

"It's infuriating, because the work is fabulous," Ms. Hunt continued. "The photos are beautiful, meaningful, and not created to be shocking. You have a testament to the strength of a relationship, the bond between these two men."

"There's a growing storm on campus," she said. "One healthy thing is that students are debating it in many classes."

"Many of them are too young to remember the Mapplethorpe scandal, and it's very healthy that they have to consider where they stand on freedom of expression and censorship."

Center Stage

Laura Draper, a student who coordinates public relations for the gallery, confirmed the interest of the undergraduates.

"Some students have objected," she said, "but others are in support. To cut the students off from the world of homosexuals with AIDS is to cut them off from the wide experience they expect to get from a large university like Rutgers."

So, once again it looks as if Mr. Berg's paintings might get pushed off center stage, this time by photographs that he did not even take himself.

Show Extended

That, said Elaine Benson of Bridge hampton, whose gallery has often exhibited Mr. Berg's work, would be a pity.

"His work is a combination of cartoons and ebullience, but underneath is a good art-historical background. It's playful and animated, which is part of his personality," she said. In the face of tragedy, said Ms. Benson, Mr. Berg "seems to just bounce back."

Ms. Schnapper said response to the show has generally been very positive and that the heads of the other fine arts departments are strongly behind her. In fact, she has extended the show through March 26.

Was there a chance it might be closed?

"Not on my life!" she replied firmly.