Take one 'pig tattooist’...

Causing controversy: Love, one of Delvoye's beautifully adorned pigs

Belgian artist Wim Delvoye is famous on the art scene for his pigs, which are worked on by professional tattooists on an Art Farm in China. The decorated animals are exhibited in galleries around the world, sometimes alive and at other times, as in Nice now, dead.

Wherever they go, it has become increasingly common for the cries of animal rights protestors’ to follow. This is despite Delvoye's claims that the pigs are not hurt, being heavily sedated during the tattooing process, and are never slaughtered.

Animal rights' activists protest

However, plenty of residents disagree and, in the days leading up to the opening of Dessins & Maquettes, members of animal rights groups sent threatening emails to the museum and mairie, calling for the pigs to be pulled. The most high profile protestor has been Brigitte Bardot who described the exhibit as sickening and demanded the show be cancelled.

Given the build up, there was a little more tension in the air than normal at the vernissage at MAMAC in Nice on 12th February. However, the artist wandered around freely and happily posed for photos. He had just finished filming an interview when, to a chorus of cries and cheers, a protestor launched at Delvoye. Although they failed to hurt him, he was ushered away and was not seen again.

"The whole show has been overshadowed by these young punks trying to get attention," the artist told The Riviera Times a few days later. "When the protestor went for me, I was scared and panicked, the architecture of the building became very disorientating."

An artist's losing battle

To the protestors’ accusations of cruelty, Delvoye no longer has the will to defend himself: "They want to get their name in the papers. They use my show because it is a sexy subject for them and it gets publicity. I doubt they are outside a slaughterhouse every day."

In the past, the vegetarian artist has pointed to the hypocrisy of those happy to munch on a slice of pork belly objecting to his art. He also claims that the pigs on his farm, who all have names, are spoiled to the point where he gets in coal to keep them warm.

Delvoye insists that he had never wanted the pigs in Nice in the first place: he agreed only because the museum insisted. "With this exhibition, I had wanted to present my more silent side. I didn't want it to be sensational but serious and intellectual," he says, clearly frustrated.

One gets the impression that Delvoye is a little tired of his image as a provocateur, although it is unlikely that he will ever be able to shake the "controversial" tag. Delvoye is, after all, an artist who made his name with a machine that produces faeces (Cloaca) and who is known for his sexually explicit pictures of Disney characters (Cinderella, Belle, Snow White and the dwarfs).

"Even when I want to, I can't redirect curators," he admits. "With Nice, they chased me to do the show - because they want to be avant-garde and cool. So they tried to do something new and when it came down to it they were cowards. They have good ideas but they are too provincial for them." He believes this is illustrated by MAMAC's decision to remove the Disney works from the exhibition.

Moving on

Having been working on the pigs since 1992, Flemish Delvoye moved onto other projects long ago. At MAMAC, visitors can also see his scale models of gothic structures, including an exquisite chapel, and a number of drawings and metal sculptures inspired by religious images. His next project is an extended version of a large gothic tower (first presented in Venice in 2009) for Rodin's garden in Paris in April.

With the publicity over the animal rights controversy, one could be forgiven for thinking tattooing pigs is all he's ever done. Does he find it frustrating that his work can be overshadowed by issues unrelated to the art itself?

"Of course," he replies, "I wanted this show to focus on my scale models and drawings: the pigs are neither. Ultimately, though, I want to accommodate local people. That's the irony: I was told the pigs were going to be popular and that's why they’re there."

Whether the pigs will be "popular" or not remains to be seen, with the exhibition running until the end of May there is still time for people to make up their minds. It looks certain that, at the very least, they will attract a crowd.

Hannah Marshall