An Australian farmer is defying police demands that he remove a supposedly pornographic hay bale sculpture.
Bruce Cook, who lives near Kerang, Victoria, was instructed to nix the sculpture, “depicting a bull serving a cow,” which has been deemed offensive and pornographic by some locals and officials, according to Weekly Times Now.
(For more on controversies over allegedly pornographic art, see Japanese Vagina Kayak Artist Indicted, Faces Up to Two Years In Prison and Vagina Kayak Artist Arrested Again for Titillating New Work.)
Cook tells the paper he has received “massive public support,” adding that he erected the sculpture on Good Friday as “a bit of fun.”
After a passerby reported the sculpture to the authorities, Cook received a call from the police telling him he had to take it down or face charges of publishing pornographic images. “I couldn’t believe it,” Cook told the Times. “How could anyone be offended by something that happens out in the paddocks for real every day of the week? It’s just nature.”
Cook said he “told the copper to piss off.”
The Weekly Times is now polling readers, asking, “Is the hay bale structure offensive?” The paper says according to its poll, 96 percent agree the sculpture is not offensive.
Dozens have stopped to admire the sculpture, and Cook says he plans to illuminate it at night. He said that while most people have been supportive, he has received a threat or two from people who say they’re going to burn it or knock it over.
Cook says he believes there is a petition circulating to support the work, as well as a Facebook page: “We say the hay stays.”
Added Cook: “We live in a farming community and of course animal breeding is all around us but this is really just a smutty joke.”