'It's art on display, not soft porn' BY NEIUOSHI MUMBAI THIS was one situation which artist Sanjeev Khandekar may not have bargained for when he titled his exhibition, 'Tits Clits n Elephant Dick. Though Mumbai is quite liberal in mat­ters of sex and haute couture, there is always the lurking fear of a crackdown by the self-styled moral police, a force to reckon with these days. Well, not to be left behind by the moral keepers, a woman named Push-pa, who was apparently quite agitated with the whole idea behind the exhibi­tion, entered the Jehangir art gallery at 10.30 am and created a big scene, there­by disturbing the connoisseurs of art. Pushpa (40) entered the art gallery and began commenting on the inde­cent portrayal and depiction of paint­ings and sculptures displayed by Khan­dekar and Vaishali Narkar. The exhibi­tion erotically entitled 'Tits Clits n Ele­phant Dick didn't go weU with Pushpa who demanded that the exhibition be immediately stopped. When the exhibitors tried to reason with her, she unsettled the atmosphere in the gallery. Thereafter, Pushpa then went to the Colaba police station and registered a complaint following which cops were sent to investigate and took pictures to verity whether the paintings were gen­uinely obscene or not. Officials at the Colaba police station were not available for comment. "It is something bold that we have tried to portray, it is an ideology that didn't go well with that woman. We have explained our concept to many of our visitors and have received an amaz­ing response. There is nothing harmful and the artwork is not misleading, cre­ating such furore. I don't feel that there is anything obscene. 1 feel this might create bad publicity, which we want to try and avoid," said Khandekar, a Reliance employee. Vaishali Narkar who jointly worked with Sanjeev said that she regretted the incident and want­ed art to be treated in the form of art. She also mentioned that that lady who spoiled the party shouldn't have brought per­sonal emotions. Even the visitors appreciated the exhibition and lauded the boldness of the artists. Rupa Gulab - an author said that it's ridiculous to term art as obscene. It's time people should grow up. J P Shah (78) who came along found it artistic and very interesting. He even felt the captions were interesting although his wife didn't like it. Art should not be classified as obscene. Another visitor Abu Vahanvaty, president of lions Club of east Bombay said," The exhibition is a novel idea and it brilliantly rips apart the Indi­an hypocrisy in which we are still tied up." Women disrupts exhibition entitled Tits Clits n Elephant Dick at Jahangir art gallery The SUNDAY Free Press Journal, August 6th 2006