Muralist's vision has jail staring him in face

[noamnety]

"He painted Eve as God created her: nude.

And when he finished including the bare-bosomed Biblical first woman, he inscribed the word "love" on the mural that covers the outside wall of his Roseville art studio.

In Ed (Gonzo) Stross' eyes, his variation on Michelangelo's "Creation of Man" mural is art.

In 39A District Judge Marco Santia's eyes, it's a crime."

http://www.freep.com/news/locmac/mural18e_20050218.htm



Basically, Gonzo (as the locals know him) did a mural based on a Michelangelo painting, and now he's required to paint over the woman's breasts, and they are requiring him to cover the word "love" which appears in the mural. They're holding off forcing him to serve his jail time until he gets his appeal heard. Right now he's in the hospital with MS.

[whistle]

1. Next fascist trait, persecution of artists and intellectuals

...<snip>

11.) Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

<more>

<link> http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

[dave123williams]

5. Wait until they start burning the books...

[donheld]

2. Next time he can paint her in a teddy

:eyes:

[noamnety]

3. I guess that's the solution

I can't believe nudes are okay in the Vatican, okay for the pope, but the people in Michigan are worried it's going to destroy their moral fiber.

I've seen the mural (pictured above) and it's nothing sexual. Unless you get turned on by an American flag, I guess. Maybe that was the issue, the fundies got all excited by that.

[progressivebydesign]

4. Word to Roseville: BREASTS are NOT "genetalia". n/t

[dave123williams]

6. This guy has a slam-dunk 1st ammendment case...

[noamnety]

7. They've been harassing him for a while

He's been ticketed before for "loitering" - while he was outside painting his own building!

I like this quote from another article "I encourage artists to come to Roseville to take the pressure off of me."

[MrScorpio]

8. Ahhh, Roseville. That figures

Goddamn, Macomb County. Some fuckers called me "nigger" there, way back in the day.

Well I see that things haven't changed.

People out there can't still be stupid.

[porphyrian]

9. We wouldn't want kids to see tits...

...before they see Iraqis and their fellow soldiers blown to shit, would we?