Isaac Butler's 'The Perfect Moment' traces 1980s culture wars over art

Isaac Butler's new book 'The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars' examines how the religious right in the late 1980s pivoted from the Cold War to target federally funded contemporary art. Butler argues that battles over works like Andres Serrano's 'Piss Christ' and Robert Mapplethorpe's photography, along with the cancellation of Mapplethorpe's retrospective at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1989, marked the birth of modern culture wars. The book explores tactics used by figures like Rev. Donald Wildmon and Senator Jesse Helms to misrepresent art and provoke grievance. Butler, spurred by the 2020 postponement of a Philip Guston retrospective at the National Gallery of Art, aims to reclaim free expression as a leftwing value. He notes parallels to current attacks on the Kennedy Center and Smithsonian, and argues that the liberal establishment's underestimation of opponents and fetishization of compromise have allowed conservative attacks to erode public arts funding. The book features interviews with artists including Serrano, Tim Miller, John Fleck, Holly Hughes, and screenwriter Paul Schrader.