When artist Jim Bowling, a professor at Otterbein University, had questions raised regarding the appropriateness of his sculpture critiquing gun violence, he was disappointed but not surprised.
Bowling is now participating in the Ohio Art League’s exhibition, “Uncensored,” which ends its run at RAW Gallery in downtown Columbus Sept. 12. Admission to the exhibition is free. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday 1-5 p.m., and 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays.
The gallery space and exhibition are aptly named—the art presented comments on the current political climate with unfiltered, poignant honesty.
Second Amendment Rites by Jim Bowling
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Artists like Bowling who are participating in the show identified “Uncensored” as an exhibition grounded in the current moment, one that resists a fearful political climate and tendency to shy away from difficult or taboo conversations. Art featured in the exhibition comments on an array of themes, from gun violence to reproductive rights.
Bowling says his sculpture, “Second Amendment Rites,” was a reaction to the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting in 2022 that killed 21 people.
The work was in a different show, and Bowling says questions were raised over whether it would be allowed to remain, owing to some finding it “too political.”
“Uncensored,” in his perspective, was a response to these types of challenges to art.
“At other venues, artists I’ve spoken with have had their work suddenly withdrawn, not accepted or edited in some way,” Bowling says. “When we’re at the point of editing the art as free speech, we’re reaching an issue. Why are we having to watch what we have to say?”
Free Abortion by Gwen Waight
What kind of art does the ‘Uncensored’ exhibit showcase?
Gwen Waight, an artist based in Peninsula, Ohio, says her work was also previously censored. Waight’s piece in the “Uncensored” exhibition is titled “Free Abortion” and is an assemblage of found objects.
“I got this piece into another show and it was censored,” Waight says. “It got in, but when they saw more, they said, ‘We can’t lose our funding. This is a little too controversial.’ I’ve gotten that a lot with my pieces. I’ve found that people are drawn to my pieces, but they don’t always know right off the bat what statement the pieces are making until they either read the title or they read my artist statement. Then they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a little too much for us.’ ”
Kenia LaMarr, a master’s student of arts policy and administration at Ohio State University, submitted “Virtuous Intimacy” to the exhibition, which is a painting that depicts her friend Rachel sitting naked. LaMarr stressed that “Uncensored” is happening at an opportune time.
“Especially now, we need spaces where there is not so much censorship—even academia is becoming more censored,” LaMarr says. “Research and the study of humanity is becoming censored. Art is a digestible tool for those who may not understand an experience or a challenge for a group of people, but they understand art as a way to communicate that.”
Bowling’s “Second Amendment Rites” depicts a man covered in red, white and blue paint, appearing as both a man and an American flag. Bowling described creating the sculpture as an emotional process, and one that rides along current political undercurrents.
“When I started, I just couldn’t stop, I had to keep going,” Bowling says. “The runny flag look was kind of a nod to Jasper Johns and some of the flag imagery he did, with his running colors and loose lines. [The sculpture reflects] where we are as a nation, and what we view as what’s valuable and what isn’t valuable as determined by our own actions and the actions of our legislators.”
LaMarr explained that “Virtuous Intimacy” is grounded in her observation that womanhood is often inherently sexualized when it shouldn’t be.
“I was thinking about being a woman and how women’s bodies are accepted in the world,” LaMarr says. “A lot of women aren’t able to sit nude without being objectified. I wanted my painting to be real and reflective, since it’s a vulnerable position for Rachel. You don’t get any sexual undertones from the painting. Oftentimes, womanhood is censored, femininity is censored, but my depiction of Rachel is raw.”
Waight, whose assemblage comments on the state of reproductive rights, says “Uncensored” allows artists to create exactly what they want to make without fear of backlash.
“The exhibition affords us freedoms we should have,” Waight says. “This art shouldn’t be taboo. This kind of exhibition says, ‘No, you don’t have to have fear, you can feel emboldened, safe and free to express exactly what you want to say.’ And that’s so important because now, people are having fear surrounding what’s OK to say.”
This story appeared in the September 2025 issue of Columbus Monthly. Subscribe here.
This article originally appeared on Columbus Monthly: Ohio Art League’s Uncensored exhibit runs through Sept. 12 at RAW Gallery