Michigan artist sentenced to jail over mural nudity

First Colin Powell covers a fresco of Guernica at the UN on the eve of war with Iraq. It was if he couldn’t stand the gaze of the victims. Then John Ashcroft famously covered Lady Justice’s exposed tit. He couldn’t handle naked justice. Now a judge in Michigan is keeping the irony train rolling. Think of our age as the Daily Show Writers Full Employment Plan…

In a particularly philistine and backward act, artist Edward Stross was sentenced to prison last week for his mural depicting a bare-breasted figure on a building in Roseville, Michigan, in suburban Detroit. The artist was ordered by District Judge Marco Santia to serve 30 days in jail, do two years of probation and pay a fine of $500 for his variation of Michelangelo’s “Creation of Man,” illustrating a half-naked Eve. Stross was also mandated to alter the fresco, which he painted on the outside of his art gallery in 1997.

After covering the breast with a black cloth, Stross explained to reporters that he was in mourning for artists everywhere. “Removing the work is the ultimate punishment. The jail time is nothing compared to removing what I painted. ... They’re trying to paint me out as a criminal.”

At Stross’ trial, Roseville resident Jim Goldwater spoke in support of the artist, telling jurors that Stross volunteered at a local homeless shelter and has created a number of murals in the community for free. He added, “I think it’s disgusting, to be honest with you.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan filed an emergency motion to keep him out of jail pending…

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Anthony Lappé is GNN's Executive Editor. He's written for The New York Times, Details, New York, Paper, The Fader and Vice, among many others. He has worked as a producer for MTV and Fuse. He is the co-author of GNN's True Lies and the producer of their Iraq...