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The controversial statue Associated Press

Shocking or fine? Artist criticised for vagina sculpture in Versailles

It’s either a massive tuba or else Marie Antoinette’s vagina – but the artist isn’t saying.

A BRITISH SCULPTOR has defended a piece of art which may or may not depict a vagina which has been unveiled at the palace of Versailles in France.

The artwork, called Dirty Corner, is on the grounds of the lavish palace where French royalty, including Marie Antoinette,  lived until the French Revolution.

Artist Anish Kapoor said in one interview that the work signifies “the vagina of the queen who takes power” and described as a ‘provocation’.

However he later said that viewers can interpret it as they like.

“A work has multiple interpretive possibilities,” Kapoor said.

What I am doing here is kind of taking the surface of [renowned French landscape designer] Le Notre’s ordered garden and looking inside.

“Inevitable, one comes across the body, our bodies and a certain level of sexuality,” he said. ”But it is certainly not the only thing it is about”.

The mayor of Versailles tweeted that Kapoor had ‘slipped up’, while some right wing bloggers expressed their unhappiness with the artwork. The far-right mayor of the town of Béziers said that the work ‘disfigures our heritage’.

However visitors to Versailles were largely unperturbed.

“I think it is appropriate. I mean, a human body is a work of art,” said one 28-year-old tourist.

One resident of Versailles took issue with the sculpture for other reasons.

“This is a bit of a mess, a heap of metal, rocks,” said Pierre Dhainaut. “I know it is a composition, but let’s say that this is ruining the perspective that visitors of the palace may have”.

Kapoor’s exhibition at  Versailles coincides with the 300th anniversary of the death of King Louis XIV, nicknamed the Sun King, who became infamous for his extravagance at Versailles.

Anish Kapoor was born in Mumbai in 1954 and lives and works in London. He won the Turner Prize for art in 1991 and his work has been shown around the world.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

Read: Vagina artist arrested in Tokyo on obscenity charges > 

Read: American student rescued after getting stuck in giant stone vagina > 

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32 Comments
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    Mute The Man With No Name
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:18 PM

    Its neither shocking nor fine. It looks rather shit, just like most postmodern art. Amazing how art is the one thing to actually get worse since the Renaissance

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    Mute Tom Collins
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    Jun 7th 2015, 2:06 PM

    You said shit!

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    Mute Emma Galvin
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    Jun 8th 2015, 12:49 PM

    As a recent art college graduate I can tell you that most of my peers worked hard in the traditional and digital fields they chose. Technology does not make art ‘easier’, it’s in fact quite difficult. You do not know the process that goes into a piece of artwork until you are the one making it.

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    Mute sonny black
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:11 PM

    I like vaginas.

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    Mute Francie Coffey
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    Jun 7th 2015, 3:34 PM

    Well then, here is another one for you; -
    http://redicecreations.com/article.php?id=17158

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    Mute Mick McDonagh
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:09 PM

    It’s just a bit of craic

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    Mute O Swetenham
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:23 PM

    Sure it’s all art. What sort of dick would have a problem with a giant vagina

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:26 PM

    A small one?

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    Mute Laura Walsh
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    Jun 7th 2015, 3:49 PM

    Well whoever thought it looks like a vagina obviously has never seen one.

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    Mute Dave Fingleton
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    Jun 7th 2015, 3:25 PM

    Men wandering around versailles mystified as to where the clitoris is…

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    Mute potty o shea
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    Jun 7th 2015, 4:10 PM

    @ Dave. Comment of the week LOL!

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    Mute Mick Jordan
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:25 PM

    A Modern art sculpture has no place among the classical architecture of the likes of Versailles. Stick it outside a modern municipal building. Its like when they stuck that ugly glass pyramid in front of the Louvre.
    There is a place for modern art but it is not amid the classical.

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    Mute Keelan O'neill
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    Jun 7th 2015, 2:16 PM

    I was watching a Tom Hanks doc the other day, turns out Mary Magdalene is buried under it.

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    Mute Powerful Sayings
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:23 PM

    It’s pretty crap.

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    Mute Doogle Knows
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:22 PM

    There’s enough phallic sculptures around….

    I’ve seen a few that size in my time.

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    Mute Biscuits Patinkin
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    Jun 8th 2015, 9:55 AM

    A giant statue of Enda? Where?

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    Mute Supernova
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:20 PM

    Vaginas are amazing

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    Mute Martin Hayes
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:26 PM

    I’ve never seen a tuba that size but vaginas can be pretty scary.

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    Mute Biscuits Patinkin
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    Jun 8th 2015, 9:57 AM

    Tubas can be scary too to be fair. Berlioz’s ‘March to the scaffold’ from ‘Symphonie Fantastque’ for example.

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:26 PM

    It relies on a touch of the ‘King’s new clothes’ mentality.

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    Mute Shawn Rahoon
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:51 PM

    He should have built it around the Spire on springs.

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    Mute Shane Freeney
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:54 PM

    Think I can see a few crabs on the rocks !

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    Mute Mark Gerard Lochlain
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    Jun 7th 2015, 3:28 PM

    Forget the guillotine…A fanny fart from that cavity would take your head off..!!

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    Mute Ally Collyer
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    Jun 7th 2015, 6:13 PM

    Mark, the word you are looking for is – Queefing

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    Mute stephen
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    Jun 7th 2015, 1:58 PM

    bang of fish of it

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    Mute Stephen Doyle
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    Jun 7th 2015, 5:27 PM

    Let them eat…,

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    Mute Shane Freeney
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    Jun 7th 2015, 2:38 PM

    Here Kitty Kitty Kitty …

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    Mute Biodiversity Watch On Biology-ie
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    Jun 7th 2015, 3:23 PM

    Wasting you time. Pussy never comes when you call – only when you ignore it.

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    Mute Brian Gormley
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    Jun 7th 2015, 2:42 PM

    I wouldn’t go back near that palace,
    it’s only a cu.t of a place

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Jun 7th 2015, 8:44 PM

    Going to Versailles tomorrow. Claaaaaaaaaaass.

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    Mute Paul Keating
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    Jun 7th 2015, 10:58 PM

    As she says…. “it’s my first time”

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    Mute Timmay Timeo
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    Jun 8th 2015, 10:09 AM

    It has to be a good thing. It will bring visitors from all over some to snatch a glimpse, others to glimpse a snatch.

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