ST. PETERSBURG - Anti-gay graffiti was found spray-painted Tuesday morning on the door and windows of an art gallery on Central Avenue, the owner said.
William Schramm owns Antiques 2061, an antiques shop and art gallery in the same building at 2061 Central Ave.
The business just wrapped up what Schramm dubbed The First Annual St. Petersburg Erotic Art Show. Schramm said that on Monday afternoon he put in the storefront window four acrylic paintings of male nudes by the artist Rico Estante.
A derogatory term used to describe homosexuals was found this morning spray-painted on the door. The same term was used to categorize the paintings as pornography in a phrase spray-painted on the window, said Schramm, who filed a police report on the matter.
The figures are portrayed from the back, with no genitals showing, Schramm said. He contemplated displaying frontal nudes but didn't because there's a school bus stop nearby, he said.
Schramm said Estante's work is not pornographic and that several pieces of his work were purchased at the art show. Some were purchased by lawyers for their offices, he said.
Schramm said he and his staff were working Tuesday afternoon to clean up the graffiti, he said.
Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson
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