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Painting of nude woman prompts police visit at Powys art gallery
A painting of a nude woman with her legs open has prompted a police visit to an art gallery in Mid Wales.
The painting is on display in the window of The Table in Hay-on-Wye, Powys.
Warning: The image below shows the painting
According to gallery owner Val Harris, the police have asked her to remove the painting under the Public Order Act, but she has refused to do so.
Ms Harris told Sky News the response the painting had received from some people was “shocking” and “rather sad”.
“We had the police here under the Public Order Act. They’d had complaints,” she said.
“I’m not prepared to take it out of the window. I run an art gallery, I support my artists, so that’s where we got to.
“And Poppy [Baynham, the artist] wants to keep it in the window, if she wanted to move it ’cause she was finding it too traumatic, I would have respected whatever she wanted.”
The painting formed part of the gallery’s It’s Party Time exhibition.
Some of the complaints were read out in a public meeting on Thursday afternoon, called so people could ask questions about the artwork.
One complaint was that the painting was “not suitable for children”, while another described it as “very sexualised”.
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Baynham told Sky News it was “only supportive people” who attended the meeting after the complaints had been made.
“I think everyone who didn’t like the painting was just a bit scared to show their faces obviously. So it turned out really, really great, a lot of people showed up,” she said.
“I couldn’t do it without the support, I think I would have given in if it was all hate.”
The painting on display at The Table. Pic: Val Harris
The discussion that has been sparked by Ms Baynham’s painting is “all an artist dreams of”, she added.
“The publicity has been amazing for my work, I’ve never had so much people talk about it.”
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A spokesperson for Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed it had received a report and that officers had attended the gallery.
They added the neighbourhood policing team was monitoring the situation.