Nude show too ‘in your face’ for cathedral
NUDE pictures have been removed from a cathedral show after worshippers labelled them too “in your face”.
Four acrylic canvas paintings by artist Joe Greenwood, 40, were exhibited at Portsmouth Cathedral, but the naked body images were pulled from the Portsmouth and Hampshire Art Society’s summer show after complaints.
Irene Strange, the society’s publicity officer, said some of the cathedral’s congregation had commented that the images were too “in your face”. Mr Greenwood said: “This was my first exhibition, so it makes me sad my paintings have been misconstrued. Nudity itself is not sexual, it’s just a human form, and there is a lot of it in religious art; the Sistine Chapel, for example.”
A spokesman for the diocese said: “Portsmouth Cathedral aims to be a space open to everybody. When a public exhibition takes place in a church it is important to consider how it relates to our main purpose of being a place for prayer, reflection, and worship.
“The paintings were initially considered suitable for the exhibition, but a number of regular cathedral users expressed distress about their presence. This is not about the quality of the work, but our duty to balance the needs of those who come to the cathedral.”