Erotic art; "the trend is upward..."

Forty years ago, a key Supreme Court case with a Kafka-esque name, United States v. Ten Erotic Paintings, put works of some of the great modern artists of Europe on trial. Seventeen years ago, an exhibit of the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe in Cincinnati wound up getting a museum curator arrested on obscenity charges. He was later acquitted. Five years ago, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft failed to see the irony of covering seminude art deco statues in the Justice Department ?- "Spirit of Justice" and "Majesty of Law" ?- with giant blue drapes reminiscent of burkas as American troops were fighting against the Taliban.

Now, though, more and more Americans are voting with their feet and their dollars to say they appreciate a painting that may at first look like fresh cherries but when you stare long enough, becomes an image of kinky sex.

Just such a painting was part of this month's Seattle Erotic Art Festival, considered the top such festival in the country, and one of a growing list of erotic art fairs, festivals, galleries and exhibitions spreading throughout the United States and abroad.

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