'Queen's vagina' sculptor lashes out

A British artist who created a controversial sculpture at the Palace of Versailles that has become known as the "queen's vagina" lashed out at French "intolerance" Thursday after his work was vandalised.

The work "dirty corner" by Anish Kapoor was found sprayed with yellow paint on Wednesday and is now being cleaned by palace authorities.

"If this act of vandalism means anything, it speaks more to a certain intolerance in France than to art itself," Kapoor said in an interview with Le Figaro daily.

"The problem seems more political than anything else," he added.

The 60-metre (200-foot) long, 10-metre (33-foot) high steel-and-rock abstract sculpture by the British-Indian sculptor, resembling a funnel in the form of an orifice, is set up in the garden aimed directly at the royal chateau, which attracts five million tourists a year.

Inside the palace itself is a smaller work -- a cannon that fired red wax at white walls, symbolising a phallus and an ejaculation of blood.

Some French media outlets have expressed unease at the level of provocation unleashed by Kapoor.

No one has claimed responsibility for vandalising the sculpture.

French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin said the vandalism was "an attack on the freedom to create" and stressed "all my support to the artist."
Source: AFP