Friday, 27 April 2001
The attentions of the Vice Squad have clearly not left the Saatchi Gallery nursing any inhibitions. Its first exhibition since being raided by officers investigating complaints of obscene exhibits opens with an animated sequence of a modelling clay heroine pleasuring herself.
The attentions of the Vice Squad have clearly not left the Saatchi Gallery nursing any inhibitions. Its first exhibition since being raided by officers investigating complaints of obscene exhibits opens with an animated sequence of a modelling clay heroine pleasuring herself.
The police investigation six weeks ago into allegations that photographs of children were indecent has not deterred the gallery, owned by the advertising entrepreneur Charles Saatchi, from repeatedly showing the video of close-up masturbation by the artist Liane Lang. Jenny Blyth, the gallery's curator, defended its inclusion in the show by saying it was clearly not real. She said: "It's definitely not flesh. We perceive it as a humorous piece. It's the world of Wallace & Gromit and to use these materials in this way is so unexpected."
Ms Lang, a graduate of the Goldsmith's College that produced many of the Young British Artists, said she did not think people would be outraged. She said: "I never intended it to be offensive. There is also a distinction between showing adult sexuality and children."
The gallery came under fire last month from tabloid newspapers and a few unnamed visitors who protested that photographs by Tierney Gearon of her children were indecent. But the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was no case to answer.
The next exhibition, titled "New Labour", opens to the public next Thursday, chosen because of the initial expected date of the general election.
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