St. Petersburg Police Seize Painting of Putin in Women's Underwear

[pampango]

Source: Moscow Times



Police seized a painting of Russia's president and prime minister in women's underwear from a gallery in St. Petersburg, saying the satirical display had broken unspecified laws. The officers also removed a picture of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, his torso covered in tattoos, and two others poking fun at lawmakers who have backed legislation banning so-called gay propaganda, gallery staff said.

The officers also removed a picture of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, his torso covered in tattoos, and two others poking fun at lawmakers who have backed legislation banning so-called gay propaganda, gallery staff said.

St. Petersburg, which next week hosts world leaders at a G20 summit, was one of the first Russian cities to introduce a law banning the spread of "gay propaganda."

The Russian parliament has also adopted similar legislation, prompting protests from abroad and calls for a boycott of the Winter Olympics, which Russia will host in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in February.

Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/mobile/news/article/painting-of-putin-seized-artist-flees-to-france/485194.html

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Smart of the artist to flee to France. Making fun of Putin, Medvedev and other pro-Putin politicians is not a healthy activity in Russia.

[Enrique]

1. remarkably similar to the "Mirth and Girth" incident in Chicago

regarding a painting of the recently-dead mayor Harold Washington in women's underwear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirth_%26_Girth

Confiscation

Aldermen Edward Jones (20th) and William C. Henry (24th) were the first aldermen to arrive from the City Council session. According to the federal lawsuit, Henry showed he had a gun, and then with Jones removed the now-hung painting from the wall and placed it on the floor, facing the wall. After they left, another student rehung the painting. Three other aldermen, Allan Streeter (17th), Dorothy Tillman (3rd) and Rush, arrived later. They took down the painting and attempted to remove it from the school, but were stopped by a school official. The aldermen then took the painting to the office of the school president Anthony Jones (no relation to Edward Jones). The painting had a 5 in (13 cm) gash,[2] and it had been wrapped in brown paper.[4]

Alderman Tillman threatened to burn the painting in President Jones' office, but a Chicago Police Department (CPD) lieutenant present with the aldermen, Raymond Patterson, advised against this. Instead, another unnamed alderman called CPD superintendent Leroy Martin. Martin telephoned Patterson in Jones' office and ordered Patterson to take the painting into police custody, telling Jones that the painting amounted to "incitement to riot". Another CPD sergeant accompanied Rush, Streeter and Tillman to a waiting police car with the wrapped painting in hand. Parts of the incident were later broadcast on television.[3][4][20]

The incident was marked by a volatile shouting match between the aldermen and students, and met with condemnation from free-speech advocates. As the aldermen escorted the painting to the police vehicle, a mass of students outside of the Art Institute jeered them, naming the aldermen "commies", "fascists", "brownshirts" and "philistines".[1][16] Seventeen bomb threats were recorded at the school after the controversy erupted.[1]

[David__77]

2. Yeah Russia is becoming a conservative's paradise in their domestic affairs.

Not their foreign policy, that's for sure, but their domestic ones.

[Hekate]

10. Russia has never, in its entire existence, been "liberal"

Whatever lip service the USSR paid to human rights was just that: lip service. Prior to the Glorious Revolution, the various Tsars and their minions in law enforcement weren't interested at all. What they have now, afaiac, is part of a continuum of their culture. Remember, they just tossed Pussy Riot into the gulag.

[David__77]

11. No, it's never been liberal.

I think the "gulag" reference is a bit over the top.

[Hekate]

12. Prison, then. Good luck to them is all I can say. Tuberculosis has been rampant in that system...

... in the present day.

[AngryAmish]

19. Snatch it down!!!

I remember that very vividly. THere was a lot of homophobia back then.

[Sunlei]

3. I see an Olympic Tee shirt!

[MADem]

6. I like the way you think! nt

[theHandpuppet]

7. Great idea!

But the funds should go to the artist, who will hopefully create more of these works.

[cstanleytech]

4. Agreed. After all look what happened to Alexander Litvinenko. nt

[Godot51]

8. Riddle me this...

Why were to police wearing women's underwear? Were they police women by any chance?

(Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.)

[awoke_in_2003]

9. Classic. Welcome DU. nt

[dawn frenzy adams]

13. Don't like it!

It seems the only way men know how to demean other men- is to depict them as women or gay. Some of you may find it funny, but it is also sexist.

[Ms. Toad]

14. That made me a little afraid to open this thread. n/t

[bearssoapbox]

15. My first thought was...

Why would someone steal a picture of Putin by hiding it in their underwear?

Then it wasn't until I saw the link that I realized it wasn't in FL.

But that's how my whole week has been.

Oh well...

Some days it just doesn't pay to chew through the restraints.

[madrchsod]

16. i can see why they mock him in the various paintings

it`s just not the laws he`s passed. it`s the image he projects as a real "macho man" they are exposing.

google images of putin...real macho man who seems to take off his shirt and does manly things to project his tough guy image.

[dipsydoodle]

20. Maybe he'll change his name to Kensington.

[Tom Ripley]

17. Mata Hairy

[AngryAmish]

18. This would never happen in Tampa

[valerief]

21. Is this another Dubya piece?