Domestikator is nasty public art. The Louvre was quite right to reject it | Jonathan Jones

In a gallery, obscenity is one thing. But in a public space where people of all ages will see it without choosing to do so? That’s bullying

The other day I walked into a Brussels art gallery where a colossal bronze woman was swooning in sensual ecstasy. In case of any confusion about its sexual content, this new sculpture by Tracey Emin is called All I Want Is You. I couldn’t help telling the artist she should erect it in a London park. “Erect” is the right word, for she jokes that from one angle it looks like a giant cock.

Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout’s Domestikator, a model of a modernist building that happens to be shaped like a man penetrating a dog, makes me worry that I offered the wrong advice. Raunchy art in the adult and sophisticated context of a gallery – if necessary with warnings about its content – is one thing. Obscenity in public space where people of all ages will see it without making any choice to do so is another.

Related: 'Obscene? Pornographic?' – Louvre deems sexually explicit sculpture too risqué

It is the glibness and complacency of Domestikator’s use of sex that makes it repulsive

Continue reading...