Jef Bourgeau, a celebrated thorn-in-the-side of the local art establishment, is the subject of a major retrospective at the Oakland University Art Gallery opening tomorrow and running through Oct. 7.

Bourgeau, 57, may be best known for his last exhibition that abruptly closed.

That show, which opened in November 1999 only to be shuttered three days later, featured two works that the Detroit Institute of Arts found too offensive for public display.

One was entitled "Bathtub Jesus." The other was a piece tackling racist attitudes that employed a racial epithet in its title. Bourgeau declined to remove or retitle the works, and the exhibition was padlocked.

Shortly thereafter, Bourgeau, an installation artist who's broadened into video, painting and photography, found himself hauled into court on pornography charges involving "Fear No Art," at his Museum of New Art (MONA) in Pontiac. That case was dismissed.

This is a detail of "American Beauty (Sleeping)", 1997.

Both flaps occurred in the shadow of a 1999 censorship battle at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York that ignited a nationwide debate about artistic freedom. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had denounced the museum's show, "Sensation," calling it obscene, and demanding its removal from the public museum.

Says Dick Goody, director of Oakland University's gallery: "I've always admired Jef's audacity. Artists are risktakers. And if they're not, they're usually not very good."

Goody promises, however, that the OUAG exhibition -- for better or worse --will not contain anything particularly shocking.

"We are a public university gallery," he says. "We're not about generating those sorts of controversies. But Jef's work is serious and broad enough to make an exciting exhibition."

The exhibition includes a catalog written by Jan van der Marck, one-time curator of contemporary art at the DIA and founding director of Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art.

Many of Bourgeau's works on display are drawn from the past seven years and were created under aliases, like "Norwegian photographer Stig Eklund." Bourgeau insists the DIA controversy made his work too radioactive to sell under his own name in the Detroit area.

"I've cycled through the alter egos and am back to myself," Bourgeau says. "So as an artist's project, it's come full circle."

The seven years when Bourgeau operated under aliases don't seem to have diminished his standing among figures in the Detroit art community.

Marsha Miro, acting-director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, calls Bourgeau's art "fascinating," particularly those works that call into question the art world and its values.

Says van der Marck, "Jef is a man of my heart. His art is great. He's one of the most interesting artists I have dealt with in a very long time -- certainly one of the most interesting in Detroit."

This is the photograph titled "Invention 4", 2004.

'Jef Bourgeau: A Retrospective'