Nude Males Remain Grounded at LAX

Re “Plain Brown Wrapper Greets LAX Terminal’s New Artwork,” July 19: Congratulations to American Airlines for commissioning an impressive artwork by Susan Narduli for its new terminal at LAX. I have this advice for the individuals and city agencies that would keep this art under a plain brown wrapper until they decide “what’s appropriate for public consumption”: Those who strive to offend no one only serve to demean everyone.

Kenneth H. Goldman

La Crescenta

Regarding the soaring nude male images in the American Airlines terminal at LAX, the only thing I find offensive is that the men lack their genitals. There’s something disturbingly unnatural about their genitals being obscured by “subtle shading.” It’s amazing that in the quest to be politically correct, artists’ standards have to be reversed by centuries. If Michelangelo could paint nude male figures in the Sistine Chapel 500 years ago, you’d think society today could appreciate some naked men trying to fly on the floor of an airport terminal.

Daniel Watts

Los Angeles

The U.S. Senate is in a religious turmoil regarding the possible medical use of embryonic stem cells. This, even though tens of thousands of presently afflicted Americans might be greatly assisted by the very research that their fundamentalist friends oppose. An artwork at LAX is covered with brown paper because its design includes nudes. So we see that the tight behavioral censorship of outmoded religious fervor persists long past the time and circumstances of its original emergence. We should have kept the Puritans in Europe 400 years ago!

Elliott D. Full

Dana Point