Michigan Artist Faces Jail Time for "Love"

By ARTINFO

Published: October 8, 2008

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ROSEVILLE, Mich.—Artist Ed Stross is facing 30 days in jail, two years probation, and a $500 fine for adding the word "love" to his own mural in Roseville, Mich., a Detroit suburb, the Detroit Free Press reports. Stross added the word in 1997 in memory of Princess Diana; the mural itself is a variation on Michelangelo's "Creation of Man."

According to the city, the word violates a sign ordinance. "The issue is not Ed Stross," said city attorney Timothy Tomlinson. "The issue is really a municipality's right to govern their signages."

The state Supreme Court ruled that Stross should remove the letters or be jailed after applications were submitted by attorneys. Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a motion asking the court to hear oral arguments or overturn the ruling.

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Tomlinson said that the court's ruling in Roseville's favor has also inspired city officials to revisit a previously resolved aspect of the case — the Biblical Eve's exposed breasts. A Macomb County Circuit judge ruled in April that the breasts were lawful, allowing Stross to restore them after being forced to cover them in 2005.

Stross said he is extremely disappointed by the court's ruling on "love": "I've been very close to going nutso and spraying the word" more than "a thousand times."

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