Art kisser defends her ‘act of love’

A woman who planted a lipstick-laden kiss on an all-white painting by the American artist Cy Twombly went on trial Tuesday, telling the court in Avignon, France, that she had committed an “act of love” -- not a crime.

Rindy Sam, a 30-year-old French artist, faced charges of “voluntarily damaging a work of art.” Restorers have tried to remove the lipstick smudge from the bone-white canvas using nearly 30 products -- to no avail.

“I didn’t think. When I kissed it, I thought the artist would have understood,” Sam told the court.

Prosecutors want Sam to pay a $6,400 fine and take a class on good citizenship. She was taken into custody after she kissed the painting July 19. It was part of a traveling exhibition on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Avignon.