Cover Up That Venus!

[RedHedd]

Aw Geez! Is nothing sacred?

Ind. Business Told to Hide Nude Statues
-
Wednesday, March 30, 2005


(03-30) 13:50 PST Edinburgh, Ind. (AP) --


The Venus de Milo had better wear a top and Michelangelo's David should put on some pants if they're going to be seen at a yard art business.


Bartholomew County officials told the business near Interstate 65 that it must move cement copies of the classical statues — and about 10 others — out of public view because they are obscene under Indiana law.


"It's not fair to point out our business, and personally, I don't find them offensive," Ginger Streeval, a co-owner of White River Truck Repair and Yard Art, told the Daily Journal of Franklin for a story Wednesday.


Frank Butler, the county's zoning inspector, disagreed.


"They have nudity ... and that should not be in the view of a minor," he said.


Indiana's obscenity law prohibits the display of nudity where children might see it, he said.


The law also stipulates that such material is harmful for minors if, "considered as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors."


The sheriff's department and zoning officials cracked down on the business about 25 miles south of Indianapolis after receiving two complaints about the statues.


But Ken Falk, legal director for the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, said nudity has been part of art for hundreds of years and that using nudity to define obscenity could raise serious constitutional questions.


"Just because something is nude doesn't mean it's obscene," he said. "If that were the case, most Renaissance art would have to be put into back rooms or hidden."


URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...a135035S55.DTL

[RICHARD]

Heaven forbid these oafs see themselves in the mirror after a shower....

[catnapper]

You've got to be kidding. I will admit to being a prude, but stautes and true art of the human body is beautiful. Its not porn, its not tasteless, its showing off the human form.

Why not have them go after real criminals, like the guys who sell crack to our kids? The guys who flash their own naked bodies to kids? The guys who molest kids? What a joke.

[Oggyflute]

Michaelangelo would be in such despair. Beaurocratic idiots.

[Barbara]

You know that 400 years ago the naked figures in Michelangelo's Sixtin Chapel in Rome got little sarongs painted It took a lot of restoration work to get back to the original.

Now I wonder - will Indiana people be allowed in the Sixtine Chapel, in the Louvre (where the Venus is) or to Florence- where David just stands on the main piazza

[Killearn Kitties]

They will probably be allowed to visit these places, Barbara, so long as they don't try to bring photographs back to show to their friends.

[moosmom]

Why not have them go after real criminals, like the guys who sell crack to our kids? The guys who flash their own naked bodies to kids? The guys who molest kids? What a joke.

My sentiments EXACTLY!!!

[smokey the elder]

How thick can you get?? Replicas of masterpieces, considered obscene? Those beaurocrats should be (ob)scene and not heard.

[IRescue452]

And yet when you go to the store and buy your kid something like a breyer horse it has some sculpting to it. That is what always bothered me, the anatomically correct plastic toy animals. I'm sorry I don't take this too seriously. I can see a parent not wanting their young children around naked human figures. But then again, you brought your kids to the sale, and you probably saw the statues without choosing to leave the sale and come back without your kids. I would like to see the statues displayed with boxers on. I honestly am not that into art, it looks the same to me with or without a loincloth.

[Pit Chick]

Originally posted by RICHARD
Heaven forbid these oafs see themselves in the mirror after a shower....

They probably only have mirrors that show the neck up.

Now if Michelangelo's David was holding his hoo hoo, then that would be obscene.

[Twisterdog]

Originally posted by Pit Chick
Now if Michelangelo's David was holding his hoo hoo, then that would be obscene.

Hey, now I'd put THAT statue in my yard.

Indiana is a pretty conservative state. I remember from when I used to live there, they still had a lot of the "blue laws" on the books ... old Puritanical laws prohibiting just about everything, especially on a Sunday. For example, you could not buy a car on a Sunday.