A tattooed, pipe smoking nude female flashing her manicured muff has been censored in London.. shock horror! The skeptic in me says “nothing like a bit of censorship to get the word out, for free” but the old conservative man in me says “tone down the come-hither look and nobody would have a problem with it” (just so we’re clear, I’m not old or conservative, I don’t sit in any boxes). People are trying to make it about the pubic hair or the strength exuded by the woman or whatever, but lets be honest, it’s about the come-screw-me look being shoved in front of kids.
Here she is below, in all her censored glory! 
Click on the picture to see the full uncensored painting. I recently put ads on Art News Blog and advertisers have a problem with painted nudes being on the same page as their advertisements. I’m tired of eating dried noodles so I decided to work around the problem. This nude Sarah Palin painting was deemed too offensive so it doesn’t take much to be a bad boy now! Until I win the lottery you’ll just have to click on the nudes to see them.
Leena McCall – Portrait of Ms Ruby May, Standing
The Mall Galleries had the following to say about the censored painting..
As an educational arts charity, the federation has a responsibility to its trustees and to the children and vulnerable adults who use its galleries and learning centre. After a number of complaints regarding the depiction of the subject and taking account of its location en route for children to our learning centre, we requested the painting was removed.
I don’t have a problem with their reason for taking it down. If it’s a gallery with no other attachments then I think you should be able to be as filthy as you want, but also have warnings on the door. At the end of the day, the artist and the gallery have benefited greatly as people are now talking about them.
See the Twitter account of the artist Leena McCall here. There’s also quite a discussion on erotic censorship going on over at the Guardian website here.
