Latest news with #artcontroversy
The Independent
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Why a row has broken out over a ‘pornographic' statue
A large mermaid statue in Denmark, known as the 'Big Mermaid', is scheduled for removal from public view following criticism describing it as 'ugly and pornographic'. The 13ft tall statue, unveiled in Copenhagen in 2006 and later moved to Dragør Fort in 2018, has long been controversial due to its exaggerated figure and large breasts. Denmark's agency for palaces and culture concluded that the statue does not align with the cultural heritage of the 1910-era fort, prompting its decision for removal. Journalist Sorine Gotfredsen described the statue as 'a man's hot dream of what a woman should look like', while art critic Mathias Kryger labelled it 'ugly and pornographic'. Peter Bech, the statue's designer, defended his creation, asserting that the breasts are a 'proportional size' for a large woman and that the artwork attracts tourists.
The Sun
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
‘Ugly & pornographic' 14-tonne mermaid statue to be torn down in Denmark in row over her ‘vulgar' boobs
A 14-tonne statue dubbed "ugly and pornographic" will be torn down in Denmark after a major row over her "vulgar" boobs. The enormous stone figure - known as the Big Mermaid - will be removed from Copenhagen's landmark sea fortification, Dragør Fort, after causing a massive stir. 1 The Danish Palaces and Culture Agency stated the statue does not "fit into the cultural-historical environment" of the 1910 landmark. This comes as dozens of locals blasted the sculpture's design, with one art critic calling the mermaid "ugly and pornographic". While, one journalist fumed the figure was a product of a "man's hot dream". She said: 'Erecting a statue of a man's hot dream of what a woman should look like is unlikely to promote many women's acceptance of their own bodies.' She added: 'It's truly uplifting that many find the statue vulgar, unpoetic, and undesirable, because we're suffocating in overbearing bodies in public space.' The artist behind the statue, Peter Bech, hit back at criticism calling the breasts "proportional" to the size of the woman. He said many visitors told him they loved the sculpture so he is trying to find a way of keeping it in the town. Others fumed the scrutiny she was receiving was much the same as body shaming. The statue was installed in 2006 at Langelinie Pier in Copenhagen, near the existing Little Mermaid statue but was relocated some years later after locals raged it was "fake and vulgar". Dragør municipality has reportedly declined Peter's offer of donating the mermaid as a gift, reports the Guardian. Shock moment tourist jumps railing and plunges 18ft into Terracotta Army pit before smashing two priceless statues Landmark boss Helle Barth said: "it's just hard to fit in. It takes up a lot of space.' Elsewhere in the UK, a public sculpture of a snail was likened to a "giant poo emoji" and branded a huge waste of public money. The Periwinkle Shelter sculpture, which cost £6k and was woven from willow branches, is designed to imitate the tiny sea snail. It was unveiled at Earnley Viewpoint at Medmerry Nature Reserve, near Chichester. But visitors say the 4.5 metre sculpture resembles a "giant poo emoji" and have slammed it as a waste of taxpayers' money. Solly Everett said: "The idea of marking the rich coastal heritage of the south coast with a giant poo emoji is hilarious. "But given the amount of raw sewage in the sea these day perhaps it is entirely appropriate. Metalworkers reveal Molly Malone needs 'urgent' care after 'daily abuse' as Dublin City Council call for landmark revamp AN inspection of Dublin's famous statue of Molly Malone discovered it was not just her bosom that was in distress but that the entire sculpture was unstable with multiple broken fittings. A report by expert metalworkers explained how two of the pins that held Molly in place were completely destroyed. This had happened 'from the abuse she [was] receiving on a daily basis' according to records released by Dublin City Council. The inspection showed the statue on Grafton Street was now held in place only by two fixing pins underneath the wheels of her cart. An email said: 'The two fixing pins below her body have come loose or have cracked. 'As a matter of urgency, these pins need to be rewelded or replaced but to do that, the stone facing around the plinth will have to be removed so we can get at the pins.' The inspection took place after Dublin City Council decided Molly Malone needed a revamp because of ongoing damage to her bosom area. The statue's ample cleavage was often groped by visitors snapping photographs and had led to noticeable discolouration of the bronze on her chest.
Times
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Damien Hirst ‘stole live fly artwork idea' from course mate
Damien Hirst has been accused of stealing the idea of using live flies for what became his breakthrough work from a fellow artist who went to his early grave unhappy at the acclaim his rival received. Hamad Butt created Fly-Piece, consisting of live flies in a vitrine and described as one of the 'earliest works of bio-art in the UK' when it was put on display at his degree show in June 1990. One month later Hirst, who was still an unknown artist and who had been studying with Butt at Goldsmiths in south London, unveiled A Thousand Years, which featured a colony of flies feeding on a cow's head. Charles Saatchi, the renowned collector who became the leading patron of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement, had reportedly been blown away by the exhibition and shortly afterwards bought A Thousand Years. Hirst then spent much of the decade producing bio-art including his Natural History series and, perhaps most famously, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, featuring a 14ft tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde. Butt, meanwhile, died in 1994, aged 32, after developing Aids. In the catalogue for a new exhibition of Butt's work at the Whitechapel Gallery in east London, the curator Dominic Johnson wrote that A Thousand Years 'appears to have directly appropriated from Butt'. • Damien Hirst at 60: My plan to make art for 200 years after I die 'Friends and family recall Butt felt this was the case and that he was unhappy when Hirst's sculpture received greater acclaim,' Johnson, a professor of performance and visual culture at Queen Mary University, London, added. Johnson said that Hirst 'likely encountered Butt's piece first-hand in its development' adding that Butt had produced a prototype in his studio in 1989. Their time as students at Goldsmiths overlapped for two years. 'Whether the appropriation was direct or not, Butt chose to withdraw the Fly-Piece from his subsequent installation [in November 1990],' Johnson said. 'The original vitrine is now lost'. Hirst held two exhibitions in 1990: Modern Medicine, which opened in March and closed in May, followed by Gambler, which opened in July. A number of observers, including Hans Ulrich Obrist, the artistic director of Serpentine Galleries, have stated A Thousand Years was at the later Gambler exhibition. • The forgotten genius who taught Damien Hirst and inspired Britart Hirst's representatives said the artwork may also have appeared in the earlier Modern Medicine exhibition, held before Butt unveiled his Fly-Piece. However, this was still after Butt had developed his prototype while studying at Goldsmiths alongside Hirst. Hirst declined to comment on the 'appropriation' claim. Hirst, the wealthiest and arguably most influential living British artist, is no stranger to plagiarism claims. He has previously made a 'goodwill payment' to a designer and faced damages claims in American courts for alleged copying. Hirst said in an interview with his fellow artist Peter Blake in 2018 that he had been taught 'to steal' while at Goldsmiths. He told Blake: 'They said: 'Don't borrow ideas, steal them',' adding that 'you can't get copyright on butterflies' in reference to his renowned Butterflies series of artworks. All my ideas are stolen.' For the new exhibition of Butt's work at Whitechapel Gallery called Apprehensions, the artist's 'Fly-Piece' work has been reconstructed, which involved inserting fly pupae into a mound of compost at the foot of the vitrine. The pupae then hatch into flies and feed upon sheets of sugar paper printed with texts, lay eggs and then die. While the 1990 exhibitions were the key stepping stones for Hirst's entry to the British artworld which he would dominate for the next two decades, Butt failed to break through. The artist, who moved to Britain from Pakistan with his family aged two, had channelled his experiences — as a gay Muslim in the late 1980s with parents who tore his paintings down hoping he would choose a career in science — into his art. A 1992 show of his work was mounted in John Hansard Gallery in Southampton by Stephen Foster, its curator, who described Butt as the 'closest thing I've met to a genius in my life'. Two years ago Tate Britain gave space to Butt's Transmission work — whose original manifestation included Fly-Piece — in a display which critics said repositioned the artwork as a 'lynchpin in British contemporary art'. Gilane Tawadros, the director of Whitechapel Gallery, said Hirst 'seamlessly weaves popular culture, scientific knowledge, artistic understanding and social and cultural insights into works which are poetic and edgy, and completely unlike any others made by his contemporaries at the time'.
Al Bawaba
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Bawaba
ON channel deletes "Kalam Kibbar" promo as Maha El Sagheer vanishes after apology
ALBAWABA - Maha El Sagheer vanishes from media after promo controversy. This is the latest news about Maha El Sagheer: ON TV has officially taken down the promotional video for the new show Kalam Kibbar, which the famous TV host was supposed to present. The decision came after El Sagheer made a mistake on "With Mona El Shazly" and said that a famous piece of art was her own when it turned out to be the work of a Danish artist. The network apologized to the original artist for the mistake and confirmed that the artwork was rightfully theirs before taking down the ad. This issue quickly made headlines across the area, and both art professionals and fans were quick to criticize it. Maha El Sagheer Instagram profile As rumors spread that El Sagheer hadn't been in recent episodes of the CBC show Women Don't Know How to Lie, sources close to the production made it clear that Maha was already on leave before the incident. The reaction had nothing to do with her absence. A person who knows El Sagheer well said that she is choosing to stay out of the public eye at the moment. The source says she has turned off all of her phones and isn't answering any texts or requests for interviews while the situation plays out. El Sagheer had already officially apologized for what happened on social media, saying she felt terrible about what happened. She admitted that she was wrong when she said that the art was hers and made it clear that her personal problems at the time were not an excuse for the mistake. Right now, Maha El Sagheer is stepping away from the news. It's still unclear whether Kalam Kibbar will be brought back with a new show or thrown out completely. While they wait for more information, her fans hope that the host will talk about the problem in more detail when she is ready.
Daily Mail
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The sickening image on public display at MONA in Tasmania that traumatised a visitor
An Aussie art gallery run by an eccentric millionaire is under fire for displaying a photograph which appears to show an act of bestiality. The image, by the Ukrainian artist Oleg Kulik, is on display at Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). It shows a man apparently involved in a disturbing act with a dog - an image so graphic and offensive that Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to publish it. MONA is a major Tasmanian tourist attraction with a history of controversies, such as a legal battle over its women's-only 'Ladies Lounge' which reached the Tasmanian Supreme Court, and an admission that Picasso paintings on display were faked by the museum owner's wife. A visitor to the gallery, who wished to remain anonymous, told Daily Mail Australia that they were braced for confronting art during their visit but Kulik's photograph was a step too far. The image was displayed 'behind a curtained off section of the gallery that stated children were not allowed in, but they could easily access it', he said. 'I thought there would be images that were sexualised, but nothing that showed illegal acts. 'I was horrified and disturbed. 'I love art and am not closed minded, but for me, this was really awful and took days to recover from. It shook me to my core - it's not art - it's evil depravity.' The image, part of a series called Family of the Future, is not the only image of a naked Mr Kulik posing suggestively with dogs - part of a self-professed effort to break down the barrier between humans and animals. Mr Kulik is also known for performances in which he assumes the role of a chained, aggressive dog and attacks visitors. Bestiality is illegal in Australia but only NSW, Western Australia and Tasmania have banned the possession, distribution and production of materials depicting the act. This month the NSW Animal Justice Party called for bestiality porn to be made a federal offence. MONA was founded by the millionaire gambler and art collector David Walsh, with his wife Kirsha Kaechele acting as a curator. Mr Walsh, from Hobart, made his fortune in professional gambling - first by counting cards in casinos, and then by using self-designed computer programs to bet on the horses. He opened MONA in 2011 to show off his extensive art collection, describing the venue as a 'subversive adult Disneyland'. The museum has become known for embracing dark imagery and pushing the boundaries of what is perceived as art. Mr Walsh is committed to funding the museum himself, although it has received millions of dollars in state funding for festivals: summer's Mona Foma, which ceased running last year, and the ongoing winter festival Dark Mofo. Adult Tasmanians get into the museum for a discounted $5 fee, while non-Tasmanians pay $39 for entry. A Deloitte study for the 2017-18 financial year found that MONA had contributed $135million to Tasmania's economy and supported more than 1,000 jobs. Supporters over the years have included Anthony Albanese, who visited the museum in the lead-up to the 2019 election, and was photographed with Mr Walsh. The facility has consistently made headlines for displaying provocative art. In 2021, Mr Walsh had to pull a project featuring Union Jack soaked with blood donated by Indigenous people. Spanish artist Santiago Sierra's piece sparked calls for a boycott of Dark Mofo, with one critic slamming the work as 'abusive shock jock art'. The festival had made an appeal on social media for Indigenous Australians to donate their blood to the project. In an apology, Mr Walsh said he had been 'naive' in approving the piece, and he had thought it would appeal to the 'usual leftie demographic'. A year earlier, MONA had also come under fire over its exhibit, Eat the Problem, which showed a 'deconstructed' rabbit laid out in pieces on a table. The museum defended the display, insisting that eating invasive species like rabbits was more sustainable than culling them. Christians were also outraged when Dark Mofo placed inverted crosses around Hobart in 2018, while in 2017 there was fury over the inclusion of a bull's carcass in one of the festival performances.
