sunbeam: wouldn't you go to jail if it would help end the war?

Sister Corita Kent

Sister Corita's Antiwar Gas Tank Rainbow?

"In 1971, Boston Gas commissioned artist Corita Kent to use one of two large natural-gas tanks in Dorchester as a giant canvas. The result was an instant landmark: a rainbow of colored stripes that greets motorists on Rte. 93 and which is the world's largest copyrighted art work.

But did Kent, active in protesting the Vietnam War, add a political statement to the piece? Look closely at the left side of the blue stripe, and you'll see a man's profile. Now follow that profile down and an unmistakable beard appears - that of Ho Chi Minh.

Kent has since died, so she's not talking. But Boston Gas ardently denies any political tinge, saying the profile is a coincidence. A couple of years ago, when the company tore down the tank with the art on it, it had it re-painted on the remaining tank. Tank purists quickly noted that the profile had a rounder, less Ho-like nose. Boston Gas insisted the rounder beak was more in keeping with what it says was Kent's original design."

from Boston On-Line: http://www.boston-online.com/tank.html

For more about Sister Corita, see http://www.nmia.com/~paulos/corita.html