Artistic freedom probably is an especially sizzling art world topic during an election year. I found a fascinating story about a Miami muralist, Serge Touisant, hired to do something beautifying a city underpass. The mural was well executed, professional, and promptly doomed by local authorities.
Obama was painted next to Martin Luther King, and that was simply found unacceptable. Not surprisingly, the public funding argument was used. But it's interesting that the artist was phoned by a woman whose authority is not specified in the article, and told to erase his painting of Obama. The woman mentioned that Florida Gov. Charlie Christ is on the short list for McCain's VP. The artist states he wanted to cry. He'd worked very hard on the project, attempting to state that MLK would be proud of Obama's run for President. He insisted the art was not intended to be political.
I posted a little story here with images and links to this and another art story, where an artist is enjoying deserved lucrative success creating the now iconic poster of Obama.
The second story, featuring Shepard Fairey, demonstrates how to make your statement in the free market without political censure.
Maybe the moral to the mural story is, if you want to express art in freedom, be careful what you say with public funding.