Anime Figure Exhibition “Sexist” & “An Insult to France”

An exhibition of anime art to be held at the Palace of Versailles has been condemned as being a blasphemous insult to the cultural glory of France.

The artist in question is none other than manga-influenced Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, also recently involved in subverting Britney Spears for the purpose of protecting loli manga.

French conservatives are angry that Murakami’s art, which includes such works as the $15 million “My Lonesome Cowboy,” a life-size anime figure of a copiously ejaculating man, and “Hiropon”, a similar figure rendition of a lactating girl in a bikini, is to be displayed at the Palace of Versailles, long a symbol of the supposed cultural preeminence and glory of France.

The group protesting the exhibition, Coordination Défense de Versailles, has apparently collected 3,600 signatures in support of its opposition:

“No to the provocation of contemporary art, which respects nothing. No to the attacks on cultural harmony – Murakami’s cartoons might, perhaps, be fit for the Orangerie, but never for the Palace of Versailles itself, which is not some crass advertising board but a symbol of our history and culture.”

The exhibition is, they allege, all part of a grand scheme to destroy traditional French culture:

“For 2 years, the great royal apartments, gardens and the royal opera have been subjected to the politics of international neo-vandalism, pornographic provocations and the sexist denigration of women, destroying our prestige and ridiculing France.”

The tract’s histrionics are almost worthy of Agnes Chan herself – “Don’t sacrifice our children and artists!”, it urges:

Assuming it goes ahead unmolested, the exposition will be open to public viewing at the Palace of Versailles for 6 months from the 14th of September through to the 27th of February, 2011.

Update: “My Lonesome Cowboy” and “Hiropon” are apparently not in any way featured in the exhibition, which consists solely of some of Murakami’s other works, which nobody is interested in.

In spite of this, the mere fact Murakami created such works is apparently enough to condemn him – even critics who know the works are not being displayed insist they render him unworthy:

“The young man with an erect penis whose sperm forms a lasso, the little woman with big breasts whose milk forms a skipping rope – these have no place in the royal apartments.”