NEW YORK, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Charles Merrill, the artist who
 recently edited the Holy Bible with a black marker and pair of scissors,
 has lately burned a rare Islamic Holy Book, The Koran, valued at
 $60,000.00, in an undisclosed Chicago location. "The purpose of editing and
 burning Abrahamic Holy Books is to eliminate homophobic hate," Merrill
 stated. "Both ancient books are terrorist manuals."
     He continues, "I inherited the rare Islamic book from my late wife,
 Evangeline Johnson Merrill. As the daughter of the founder of the
 international pharmaceutical giant, Johnson and Johnson, Inc., doors of
 kings and queens opened to her around the world. Evangeline was given the
 rare manuscript by the late King of Jordan when she was on a mission for
 the United Nations in the 1950's."
     "Airplanes are flown into buildings because of words, and hate crimes
 against gays," Merrill said.
     Merrill is a self-made millionaire, artist, fervent atheist and cousin
 of the co-founder of Merrill Lynch.
     Broadway Gallery is pleased to present Charles Merrill, artist, gay
 activist and iconoclast. Merrill's exhibition incorporates themes of LGBT
 activism and the spiritual customs associated with indigenous cultures in
 his work.
     Using boldly colored acrylic and oil paint on large canvases, many are
 geometric compositions with recurring motifs of triangles, circles, lines,
 and arrows. The upside-down pink triangles in his work originate from a
 sinister source -- it was the emblem that gays had to wear in Nazi
 concentration camps.
     Notably, another form of Merrill's activism is his altruism. All
 proceeds from works sold at his show at Broadway Gallery benefit the
 Williams Institute UCLA Sexual Orientation Legal Think Tank. Merrill wants
 "to make social change, educate, to leave the world a better place for the
 next generation of oppressed people." Merrill can be located on the
 Internet at http://www.merrillcharles.com.
      Contact:
      Carol Hontz
      http://www.broadwaygallerynyc.com
      World Art Media
      473 Broadway, 7th Floor
      NY, NY 10013
      212.431.1079
      http://www.worldartmedia.com
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SOURCE Charles Merrill