Art and the NOPD:
The New Orleans Police Department is again the subject of controversy
but not the kind typically associated with New Orleans’ sometimes-infamous
police force. This latest dilemma
involves an artist-police officer who committed a serious lapse in
judgment. Det. Charlie Hoffacker
is as well-known in the art community as he is in the police department. His artwork—often depicting the
violence of the city streets—hangs in prestigious galleries and is often
purchased by people wearing exotic finery, not crisp police uniforms. What has brought Det. Hoffacker into
the news is no gun battle with a street kingpin. No, the officer’s artistic sensibilities mingled with his
frustration while at the scene of a grisly murder. Hoffacker drew in the blood
of a crime victim, and according to his superior officers, possibly compromised
the crime scene.
This publicity for the officer/artist—possibly a mixed
blessing—has resulted in a debate about artistic expression, crime, and the
manner in which an artist may take liberties with his or her subjects. Hoffacker’s paintings are no simple
depictions of lovely landscapes. Rather,
they take a harsh gaze at the city’s underworld. Homeless people stare out from his canvas, painted onto the
very signs they use to panhandle.
The artist buys them for $5 from often very grateful homeless
people. A fuel junkie pumps
gasoline into his arm in yet another artistic creation, and amorous Klansman
are held up to ridicule. Terry
Hankton, New Orleans’ most dangerous kingpin, stares out from Hoffacker’s
canvas, his mugshot recreated from bullet casings. The young detective’s art hangs in upscale restaurants as
well as in galleries frequented by the Uptown and/or New York crowds.
What I find most interesting is the commentary on the
artwork. Hoffacker certainly
should have done nothing to compromise a crime scene, but any artist or writer
sometimes feels compelled to express his or her artistic leanings. Some people,
however, have focused on the art in condemning Hoffacker and not his actions at
the scene, claiming that his art glorifies crime. Such comments are misguided. Many authors and/or artists
depict violence in their work.
Illustrating the violence of the world is the artist’s function and even
duty. The earliest poets, dramatists, and artists recreated the violence as
well as the beauty of the culture in which they lived. Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Hamlet, and Titus Andronicus are
violence-filled. And we cannot
forget the history plays in which Henry V vied for the throne of France or
Richard III plotted to retain power.
Violence in literature predates Shakespeare. Who could forget the violence but powerful beauty of
Euripides’ plays or the tragic majesty of Virgil’s epic? And in visual art—no
one could deny the power of Rubens’ Massacre
of the Innocents or Goya’s Saturn
Devouring His Son. Such is the purpose of artistic creation. Not all of
these artists were violent people, but as artists, they depicted what they’d experienced
in their society, their education, and/or their religious faith.
When I wrote my historical novels, I found myself treating
some of the most horrific events in history. Love at War, set
during WWII, showed humanity at its worst; nonetheless, depicting the events
surround that conflict as anything other than brutal would have been dishonest
and insulting to those who’d experienced the traumatic events of the time. When I wrote From Ice Wagon to Club House, I illustrated the horror and
unseemliness of Storyville, the bloodbath that was WWI, as well as the poverty deriving
from the Depression and the misguided laws of Prohibition. Many of those events were not
glamorous, pretty, or times to be glorified; however, they illustrate important
aspects of our culture and should not be ignored. Through my novels, I show the
strength as well as the frailty of humanity and the lasting power of the
spirit.
Maybe Det. Charles Hoffacker’s actions were questionable at
that crime scene; however, his artistry is undeniably brilliant, powerful, and
a masterful commentary on the urban landscape.
