Paris Sex Toy Art: 'Butt Plug' Sculpture Vandalized, Removed

A bright-green, 79-foot-high sculpture resembling an anal plug has aroused Parisians, but not in a good way. Over the weekend, vandals attacked the inflatable installation in Paris’ Place Vendôme, severing the artwork’s support cables and causing it to deflate, police told Reuters. The collapsed sculpture was removed from the square on Saturday afternoon. One Frenchman was so enraged that he punched the American artist, Paul McCarthy, three times in the face, the Daily Mirror reported.

Organizers of the upcoming International Contemporary Art Fair initially released a statement saying McCarthy’s sculpture would be reinstalled as soon as possible. But the artist has since declined reinstallation, according to a subsequent announcement from the festival’s organizers, which stated “the artist was worried about potential trouble if the work was put back up.”

McCarthy created the massive sculpture entitled “Tree” for the international art festival, which takes place this week in Paris from Thursday to Sunday. He told the Daily Mirror he was inspired by both a Christmas tree and an anal plug sex toy, but said the piece “is more of an abstraction.”

“It all started with a joke: Originally, I thought that anal plug had a shape similar to the sculptures of Brancusi,” he said. “Afterwards, I realized that it looked like a Christmas tree.”

Some Parisians took their outrage to Twitter. “Mayor of #Paris: it is important not to throw garbage away in the street #PlugAnal #PlaceVendome #McCarthy #Tree” @galliachris tweeted on Saturday with a picture of the slumped green sculpture on the pavement.

It’s not the first time McCarthy has created Christmas-themed artwork with sexual connotations. In 2001, the Los Angeles-based artist created “Santa Claus” for the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The statue, funded by the Dutch government and intended as a holiday tribute, was rejected by citizens and nicknamed “The Butt Plug Gnome,” according to LA Weekly. The controversial piece finally found a permanent home on the Eendrachtspelin Square in 2008.