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Furious Gold Coast locals have lobbied MPs, organised protests, and designed t-shirts in a desperate attempt to remove a six-metre bronze sculpture worth $70,000 from an art gallery, claiming it’s a ‘satanic monstrosity’ that’s ‘ruining children’.
The grassroots campaign to get rid of the sculpture, titled ‘Double-sided avatar with blue figure’ by Sydney-based artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, began months after it was erected at the Home Of The Arts Gallery (HOTA) in 2021.
The oddball movement reached fever pitch just weeks ago when members of the ‘Remove the Satanic Monstrosity from HOTA Action Group’ made a series of bizarre claims about the sculpture that can be published for legal reasons.
Positioned at the entrance to the Surfers Paradise gallery, the statue shows a brightly coloured, human-like form smiling and holding a smaller blue figure that glows with a red neon light.
Nithiyendran says the sculpture is culturally symbolic and is meant to ward off bad spirits and welcome guests to the gallery with its outstretched arms, with curators describing the smaller figure as a ‘playful little blue neon companion’.
But group members insist the sculpture depicts ritual child abuse, and that it’s actually an image of the devil holding a baby Jesus, which ‘poses a threat to the moral fabric of our society’.
One member, who did not want to be identified, told the Daily Mail that police did not take action when notified about how the local council rejected their 1,000-signature petition to remove the artwork.
‘No one believes us,’ she said.
Pictured: Members of the Remove the Satanic Monstrosity from HOTA Action Group at a protest outside the gallery in July
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran (pictured) created the sculpture outside the HOTA Gallery on the Gold Coast
‘Most people think we are crazy. I’m not! I wish I was if it could be proven that evil satanic paedophiles did not exist.’
Their plight has been rubbished by most officials, including Mayor Tom Tate, who previously urged naysayers to ‘get up close and personal, have a good look at it’.
‘Don’t like it? Have another drink, keep doing it until you like it. Then, by the end of the night, you’ll go, “That’s a great piece”,’ he said.
The protest group member said she previously walked past the sculpture without much thought, believing it was ‘similar to a tribal statue you might find in an African village’, until a man told her: ‘Don’t support them, there’s a satanic statue there.’
She admitted she’d never considered it before, but said that was likely because she’s a ‘normal person’ who didn’t normally think about child abuse.
She then joined the 2,500-strong local Facebook group which attacks the gallery and the artist over their fear that the figure is a danger to society.
Anyone who disagrees with them is dismissed as a ‘satanist’ and blocked from the page.
‘Satan will have the last laugh on you when you no longer have any humanity left,’ a group administrator wrote in December.
A group administrator said on Facebook in December that anyone who laughs at their cause will be blocked (pictured)
The group believe the sculpture represents ritual satanic child abuse, and created the comparison above
The group has also attacked the artist Ramesh Nithiyendran (pictured) and his wider portfolio, wrongly suggesting they are satanic and represent child abuse
‘Get off our page and get out of the Gold Coast.’
The group member condemned sexually explicit illustrations in the artist’s broader portfolio.
She also raised outlandish concerns over a one-day art workshop he delivered for primary school students five years ago.
The workshop, which was filmed and uploaded to YouTube by the gallery, shows Nithiyendran teaching a large group of children how to make their own monster sculptures using a range of materials, including foam and fabrics.
It took place in 2021, but group members continue to probe state authorities over whether Nithiyendran has a valid working with children check, known in Queensland as a Blue Card.
Anyone working with children for less than seven days is not required to apply for a Blue Card.
‘I recently wrote to the district educator in the Department of Education and they would not reveal the artist’s Blue Card status due to privacy laws, so I contacted Blue Card,’ she said.
She was irate when Blue Card would not give her Nithiyendran’s personal information, and the group slammed the response as the government ‘hiding behind privacy laws’.
Pictured: An AI-generated image of children ‘reacting’ to the sculpture outside the gallery, and an illustration by the same artist
Pictured: A t-shirt design by the group, wrongly asking whether the Gold Coast mayor broke the law by refusing to remove the sculpture
The group insists the sculpture ‘makes children cry’, but there are no apparent complaints written on behalf of any children, school groups, or parents of students who attended the workshop.
Despite that, group administrators posted AI-generated images of children looking disgusted while holding posters featuring other works by Nithiyendran.
Along with a website and a petition to remove the artwork, the group has conducted two protests and designed ‘remove the satanic monstrosity from HOTA’ t-shirts.
The shirt design includes an image of the sculpture and Mayor Tate’s face, and asks if public decency laws have been broken by his refusal to remove the sculpture.
There is no suggestion Mr Tate has committed any offence.
During one protest outside the gallery in July, an organiser insisted: ‘The normalisation of such pieces is ruining and demoralising our people.
Pictured: Protesters outside the gallery in July, claiming the sculpture is rated R
‘They are dumbing us down, they’re dumbing our senses down.
‘People are so conditioned to think this is just art and it’s subjective, I hear this all the time – you have to admit, the cabal did a great job in our country to bring us to a state of depravity.’
She urged members of the City of the Gold Coast to speak up, telling them not to ‘be silenced’.
One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts is among the few officials to give the campaign oxygen, posting on Facebook that many locals find the sculpture ‘deeply offensive’ and want it removed.
Some of his followers said they had also submitted complaints about the sculpture, but others said they saw no harm.
The Daily Mail has contacted Nithiyendran, HOTA, the Gold Coast City Council, and Mayor Tate for comment.
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