5. Paul McCarthy – Tree 2014
The sculpture entitled ‘Tree’ by US artist Paul McCarthy was on display at the Place Vendome in Paris – for a short time before it was vandalised by angry Parisians – it was a massive, green, inflatable sculpture which raised a storm for its resemblance to a sex toy. The artist admitted that his work had been inspired both by a sex toy and a Christmas tree – telling this to French newspaper Le Monde. When McCarthy went to view the work on display at Place Vendome, a man slapped his face before running away, the stranger, apparently slapped the artist three times, then shouted that he was not French and that his work had “no business being on the square”. McCarthy was unhurt but left shocked and disturbed by the attack, the artist asked: “Does this kind of thing happen often in France?” Photo: Paul McCarthy by FaceMePLS The Hague, The Netherlands Creative Commons Attribution 2.0