Badenden... drawing by Gus.

An artist today said he was left "dumbfounded and astonished" after an exhibition of his nude paintings was taken down from a council office following complaints from staff.

John Vesty had arranged to display his paintings for four weeks at the North Norfolk District Council offices in Cromer.

But they were taken down and put out of sight in a cupboard after a number of staff complained the pictures were offensive.

"I was dumbfounded and astonished when I found out that they had all been taken down because there had been complaints," Mr Vesty, 57, was quoted in the Daily Mail as saying.

"I felt disbelief that someone could object to paintings like this in this day and age and that the council should respond in such a politically correct way by removing them.

"You think that this sort of thing only happens in the Middle East in places like Iran or Iraq rather than in a Norfolk seaside town."

Mr Vesty said the paintings were neither erotic nor pornographic.

But spokesman for North Norfolk District Council described some of the paintings as "rather graphic full frontal nudes".

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/artists-shock-after-nude-paintings-taken-down-2055077.html

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Gus: the human body, whether male or female, is fascinating for artists and for philosophers... We, humans, are mostly ugly floppy beasts with few redeeming features, including our smile. Compared to other apes, we've got hair in weird places. The question of nudity has become a major curly one for our moral bent only in recent years. Abrahamic religions have intervened in demonising the human form.... Yet, a David by Michaelangelo would not be so powerfully constructed if it was not for the fact of full nudity — showing the fragility of "man". Nonetheless Michanlangelo made this "David" the size of a Goliath.

A Bernini sculpture of a fully-clothed woman visted by an angel, exhibited in an Italian church, illustrates more ultimate sexual rapture than a full frontal can. 

Nudes statues "appeared" about 12,000 years ago but drawing of nudes have graced the rocky overhangs of Arnhem Land for more than 20,000 years if my memory is correct. Nude paintings were used to decorate atriums of roman houses. Ancient Greeks had fully explicit exquisite drawings of sexual acts in the nude, homo and hetero, on every day use vases and other decorative implements. There are many example of these secretly stored in the dusty basements of the Louvre.

So how far do we have to pander to "minorities" or are people, who complain about nudity in arts, the "majority". Should we put this to a democratic vote or go totally burko by imposing the burqua to all?

I rue the day I won't be able to look at myself naked in front of a full size mirror... I had this awkward moment once, when male muslim removalists had to move one of my large painting of nudes... They barely touched it as if it was evil...