Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 3, 1990                   TAG: 9006030214
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

PROSECUTOR TELLS GALLERY TO COVER NUDE PAINTING

Officials of the 1708 East Main Gallery used white paper to cover the painting, which shows larger-than-life, intertwined figures. The work by Carlos Gutierrez-Solana of New York was designed to draw support for people with AIDS.

The work was the centerpiece of an exhibit that opened Friday night.

"Nudity in the arts is nothing new," said Adrienne Hines, executive director of the Arts Council of Richmond, which sponsored the exhibit.

But Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Joseph Morrissey said the way the 7-foot-by-14-foot image was displayed made a difference.

"You're stopped in traffic and, boom! It's there. It assaults you," he said. "Inside a gallery, it would be different."

The painting shows a reclining, sexually aroused man sitting on his hands next to a man on his hands and knees. Behind them is a man with his left arm behind his head and his right arm stretched provocatively across to his left hip.

Next to them are three anti-homosexual quotes attributed to assorted unnamed people.

- Associated Press