Red Censors Clamp Down on Michelangelo

An interesting post this week by blogger and columnist Bill Fisher in which he discusses two cases of artists prosecuted for painting versions of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. The original, which also features a bare breasted Eve, is painted on the ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel. In Roseville Michigan near Detroit, which voted overwhelmingly for Bush last year, Edward Stross was recently ordered to serve 30 days in jail, do two years of probation and pay a fine of $500 for presenting his version of the Italian master's work on an exterior wall of his studio. The painting violated city sign ordinances. In Pilot Point near Dallas, in red Texas, art gallery owner Dwight Miller was forced to cover Eve's bare breasts after police repeatedly threatened to prosecute him under a criminal statute that targets those who abuse children by selling or displaying hard-core pornography. The painting is on an exterior wall of his gallery. Miller covered the offending mammaries with a banner that read “Crime Scene.” The ACLU has filed suit on behalf of Miller, and is also helping Stross to appeal.