Police Seize 'Naked Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama" Painting Ahead of G20 Summit

ARTDAILY
A man looks at a painting called "Wrestling," by Vera Donskaya-Khilko displayed in a Moscow art gallery
RUSSIA(AFP)---Russian police have raided an erotica museum in Saint Petersburg and confiscated a painting showing a naked Vladimir Putin with an erect penis squaring off at his equally naked US counterpart Barack Obama, a curator said Wednesday. The raid on the museum, which describes itself as one of the largest erotica museums in Europe, took place Tuesday night ahead of Obama's expected arrival in Russia's second city to take part in the G20 summit later this week. The museum's curator Alexander Donskoi said the museum was temporarily shut down, suggesting that the gesture was political. "I do not understand why it's necessary to mix arts and politics?" he told AFP. After the raid the painting's author fled to France where he is applying for asylum. [link]