GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.—Mesa State College says it doesn’t want a $12,000 painting commissioned for the college.
Mesa State President Tim Foster sent a letter to the Colorado Council on the Arts, now called Colorado Creative Industries, saying the art piece was not what the college wanted and they could have it back.
California artist Christian Quintin spent five months painting a whimsical interpretation of the Grand Valley’s rock formations and rivers.
The painting was displayed briefly before being placed in storage in early 2010, where it remained for more than a year. Quintin told the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel it was censorship.
The painting was funded by $93,000 in state funding in accordance with a law that requires 1 percent of state-funded construction-project budgets be used for art.
———
Information from: The Daily Sentinel,
