Art or Porn? Controversial Collage in Canadaian Art Gallery

Queens Park, an art gallery in Canada, has this controversial collage on display. Is it art or porn?

The collage looks like a cathedral window. But a closer look shows people in sexual positions. (Photo: The Star)

Sending out a message that erotic art is not dying, a gallery in Toronto is displaying a pornographic art with explicit images of women engaged in various sex acts, media reported.

We support artists’ rights to freedom of expression. It is not our practice to censor works.
— John B. Aird Gallery to Toronto Sun

The controversial collage by Rosalie H. Maheux is shaped like a cathedral window that, when examined closely, contains explicit pornographic images.

A notice posted at the gallery door at Queen’s Park warns visitors, “Exhibit contains images intended for a mature audience.”

The sign will remain in place until the end of the exhibition, July 24. The exhibition features the work of artists under the age of 30.

Artist’s Take on Her Piece of Art

A note from Maheux posted next to the piece, Sacred Circles VI, says it depicts the conflict between the sacred and the profane.

Maheux is aware of the sacred significance of mandalas and sacred circles in Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity.

The use of hardcore pornographic images in the creation of these highly detailed patterns goes against the original meanings of the sacred circle by creating an ambiguous dialogue between attraction and repulsion.
— Rosalie H. Maheux, Artist

“However, depending on the viewer’s perception/perversion the object can be the pornographic image and the subject, the sacred circle,” she added.

Here’s a link to the art, as reported by the Toronto Star.