Tattooed pigs banned from modern art exhibition

Pigs tattooed with Louis Vuitton logos have been banned from a modern art exhibition.

Tattooed pigs have been banned from a modern art exhibition in Shanghai. Credit: Photo: MAXPPP

The pigs with the trademark LV symbol were to form part of an exhibition at the Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, together with eight other tattooed pigs.

Created by Wim Delvoye, a 43-year-old Belgian conceptual artist, they were part of an exhibit called "Art Farm".

Mr Delvoye had tattooed the designs on the animals when they were piglets and tracked the "canvases" as they grew.

However, gallery owners felt they were in poor taste after a string of complaints.

Mr Delvoye said collectors came from Europe to see his eight pigs at the show in Shanghai, China.

They have already been displayed at a Beijing art show, which triggered the concern and controversy.

Mr Delvoye bred his pigs on a farm outside Beijing, letting his tattoos grow with the animals. They were then killed and stuffed and cost about £106,000.

He says his pigs are treated humanely and they are given sedatives before being tattooed. Collectors can buy them live or purchase their tattooed skins when they die of old age.

Mr Delvoye recently sold a tattoo on the back of a Swiss man which depicts the Virgin Mary with a lifeless skull for a record €150,000. Under their agreement, when the man dies the purchaser will be able to keep the tattoed skin.

The main difference between working on pigs and people was that "the pigs never had an opinion", according to Mr Delvoye.

With plenty of food, he claims, the pigs enjoy better living conditions than millions of poor Chinese.

A spokesman for SHContemporary, declined to comment.