A plan for a glowing sculpture which resembles a phallus in Brazil's Recife has erected such an uproar that Rio de Janeiro's mayor, who carries a gun, reportedly stormed a newspaper office and threatened to kill the paper's art critic and gossip columnist, according to Reuters news service.
The furor exploded after a city committee voted to censor Francisco Brennand, the artist commissioned to produce the sculpture, according to the president of a journalists' union. One of Brazil's most renowned artists, Brennand is widely known for erotically-influenced sculptures.
But he says his design for the 100-foot tower, part of a city improvement project, represents "a beacon to outer space, rather than anything phallic."
A bid to tone down the original concept, by making it resemble a lighthouse a little bit more, triggered a firestorm of criticism and prompted Brennand to quit 4 August, in a protest in which he destroyed another sculpture.
