Chapter 266, section 127 of the Massachusetts General Laws states the maximum penalty for destruction or injury of personal property is up to ten years in state prison or a fine.

"The controversy was caused by the rash actions of one city councillor who appointed himself chief of the morality police and who took it upon himself to break the law and vandalize Mr. Evers' property," Chatelle wrote in his letter.

Yesterday, Chatelle defended the artist's freedom of expression. "How Mr. Evers expresses himself is Hans' business and responsibility. You don't tell an artist how he or she should express himself. That's what art is. Art is not propaganda," he said.

Evers, the Holland-born artist who has lived in Cambridge for the last six years, is in the Netherlands this week and could not be reached for comment.

James E. D'Entremont, spokesperson for the Boston Coalition for Freedom of Expression (BCFE), also defended the artist's message yesterday.

"The pieces that were exhibited, only three of which included phalluses, are about masculinity and identity," D'Entremont said.

Like Chatelle, he blamed Walsh for starting the hubbub. "I find it highly suspect that a councillor awaiting a trial on 41 counts suddenly finds it upon himself to be the guardian of public morals on the eve of his sentencing," he said.

D'Entremont further denied the charges that "Identidem" constituted sexual harassment.

"The slightest bit of sexual imagery opens up the artist to charges of sexual harassment," he said. "This was not intended by those who developed the legal theory of sexual harassment."

D'Entremont sees the "Identidem" affair as a reflection of a nation-wide silencing of artists' voices.

"It is a national trend and it's been getting worse for five years now," he said. "Part of it is a general fear of the unknown and of sexuality."

The Process

At stake in the arts affair is the arts council's peer-review process. The arts council invites members of the art community--curators, artists, art historians and art educators--to serve on its annual juries.

The arts council annually selects a three-person jury to choose eight artists who can display their works in Gallery 57 for one month each, according to Lombardi.

This year's Gallery 57 jury included James B. Cuno, director of the Harvard University Art Museums; Doris Chu, president of the Chinese Cultural Institute in Boston and Krakow, owner of the Barbara Krakow Gallery in Boston.