What a c**k-up! Council left red-faced over £100,000 'phallic' sculpture
COUNCILLORS have been left red-faced after a £100,000 public art project was blasted for resembling a penis.
The art installation was slammed by local homeowners who labelled the aluminium structure "a council c**k-up".
Entitled 'Transit Cloud', the artwork hangs some 25ft in the air above the New Lynn area in Auckland, New Zealand.
Technically anything can be phallic, a tree, a lamp post
The phallic-shaped sculpture took artist Gregor Kregar more than two-and-a-half years to create.
'Transit Cloud' includes four aluminium mesh clouds strung-up over a lane connecting a railway station to the city's library and shopping mall.
Sculptor Mr Kregar admitted concerns over the aluminium clouds resembling a penis had been raised by council members in the early stages of the design.
"We modified it to make it look less phallic," he said.
"I recently had an exhibition with more than 200 people and not one of them mentioned that it looked phallic."
However, residents insist the clouds have a more "masculine" appearance than traditional cumulonimbus.
"What the hell is that? It's certainly not a cloud. It looks like a penis," said Joy Dale.
Mother-of-two Janine Waters, who was walking with her young children through the city, said: "It's definitely that. What else could it be?"
One particularly blunt local, Phil Wellman, added: "Oh my God, it's a c**k and b*lls"
When asked about the criticism of his cloud sculpture Mr Kregar, who created the work with his artist wife Sara Hughes and architect Davor Popadich, said: "Art is out there to stir reaction."
He added: "People enjoy mentioning this stuff, I think."
"Technically anything can be phallic, a tree, a lamp post. I've studied art and drawing for many years and I never came across a phallus made out of thousands of triangles that was six metres long."
Auckland council's arts and culture manager Kaye Glamuzina also defended the sculpture, claiming art is always a "controversial and interpretation subjective".
The unfortunate incident is similar to a map made by the Canal and River Trust, which appeared to turn one of Britain's most picturesque market towns into a penis.
The diagram was published to advertise the pubs and local landmarks along the banks of the Grand Union Canal that runs through Berkhamsted, in Hertfordshire.
But as soon as it went online, filthy-minded locals pointed out its striking resemblance to the male sexual organ.
Summing up the incident, one resident posted the image on Facebook with the comment: "It looks like a willy. Tee hee."
