Mr. Armani, Meet the King of Beers
By Todd Balf and Paul Kvinta (with Debra Shore)

This month, John Tesh will pose for an ad sporting a tie splattered with Budweiser; in April, Sugar Ray Leonard will do the same in silk boxers splashed with champagne. Are we witnessing a return to respectability for the sloppy drunk? "The beer is just beautiful," insists molecular biologist-cum-artist Michael Davidson, who has transformed photomicroscopy, a field typically concerned with photographing molecules for biology texts, into psychedelic pop art. Using a polarized-light microscope and a 35-millimeter camera, Davidson makes molecules look like shattered stained glass and says he can barely keep up with the demand for his art on clothes, calendars, and screen savers. "Our Ben and Jerry's shots are a hot item," Davidson says, "but they're really difficult to shoot--we have to work around all the fudge and nuts."