Colwell, who was born in Oakland in 1945, studied for two years at the California College of Arts and Crafts and worked as a toy sculptor for Mattel in 1966. In 1968, he was imprisoned for draft resistance and spent two years in jail. He was a central player in San Francisco's underground comic scene in the 1970s and penned Inner City Romance, in which he depicted "tales of political repression, violence and ghetto and prison life."
He said he did not understand the animosity directed at the art.
"Apparently, people are quite shocked by my painting," he said. "I don't know why they are not equally or more shocked by the pictures they are seeing on television of the actual torture taking place."
He scoffed at the notion that some objected to the graphic depiction of the war prisoners' genitals.
"If you can see genitals in my painting and call that obscene, then I think you need to look at the actions taken by these people in the prisons in Iraq," he said. "That is where you will find the real obscenity."
Colwell calls himself a patriot.
"I have worked for peace and justice most of my life. I think that is a very American thing to do," he said. "I am not anti-American, I'm anti-torture. I'm anti-cruelty. I'm anti-hypocrisy. I don't want to be lied to any more by our government, and I stand by my work."
Meanwhile, Haigh said the gallery window would feature a less- controversial image at night.
"I'm putting a picture of a square in the window," she said. "Who can object to a square?"
She said she has been frightened by the animosity directed at her.
"I am scared now for my kids," she said. "I'm getting calls at home. Can little me put my whole life on the line for this? It's really kind of scary."
We all scoff at that. This is a case of an art gallery going under for financial reasons. The whole painting protest thing is phony and an attempt to break a lease. The painting is nothing out of the ordinary in SF. She still has assets from her settlement with the Catholic church that can be attached if she breaks the lease for no reason. She is protecting her assets and not willing to spend anymore on the money sucking gallery.