Artists Block Work From Being Shown at Brandeis

Three artists whose work was to have been displayed in an exhibit at Brandeis University in the fall have pulled permission as a protest of the university's policies on its own collection of art, The Boston Globe reported. The university originally planned to sell its noted collection of modern art, likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars. While the university -- facing widespread criticism -- put the plan on hold, it has yet to rule out sales. The three artists are Bill Viola, who works with videos, and the painters April Gornik and Eric Fischl. Gornik told the Globe: "Frankly, I had thought the whole controversy had been resolved and that the collection was safe and not in danger of being sold.... I didn’t realize there was so much possibility of it being sold. We’ve been very encouraged that the president of the university apparently stated that he doesn’t intend to sell the collection, but without some sort of legally binding evidence, we’ve decided to postpone the show.’’