NP art

[Doug Millison]

forwarded from the PSYARTS list

>
>                         --Best, Norm
>
>The Associated Press
>Posted April 25, 2001, 2:49 PM EDT
>
>
>
>LAKE ALFRED -- Michelangelo's David has been dressed.
>
>A replica of the anatomically correct masterpiece, considered one of the
>world's greatest treasures, prompted a series of complaints to city code
>enforcement in this small Polk County town.
>
>The owners of the Fountain and Falls shop that put David outside their
>business bowed to pressure and wrapped a cloth around the Biblical figure's
>waist.
>
>"I didn't even know it was art," said Jeanne Johnson, the owner of a nearby
>barber shop who was among those who complained to city hall about the
>500-pound, 5-foot concrete statue.
>
>"To me, it's just a naked man standing on the side of the road. Once the
>girls saw it, I found myself in a position where I had to explain what a
>penis is."
>
>Shop manager Chuck Cole put the statue in front of his business along a busy
>thoroughfare through the town of 3,800 in Florida citrus country southwest
>of Orlando.
>
>Johnson and a handful of others complained, prompting City Manager Jim Drumm
>to research the city's code and statutes to see if the sculpture violated
>obscenity laws.
>
>"There's nothing legally we could do about it since we can't regulate art,
>but the people were demanding that we do something," Drumm said. "As a
>matter of courtesy, we asked the store owners to put a cloth around the
>statue."
>
>Cole didn't like the request, but obliged.
>
>"If I were standing on some street corner, that would be different," Cole
>said. "But this is a representation of a classic masterpiece. It's art, not
>obscenity."
>
>The more modest version of David has been attracting more attention that the
>nude one. Tourists have been posing by the statue. A few even sneak a peak
>underneath the informal loin cloth.
>
>Cole said he will be replacing the plain white cloth with a leopard-print
>bandanna.
>
>"I figure If I'm going to have to cover him up, I might as well do it in
>style," he said. Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press

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