The sculpture by world-renowned artists Gillie and Marc has been causing a stir with opinion divided on whether the sculpture should be placed in Lachlan Street’s Albion Park.

A development application about the display of sculptures at the former hotel site was on public exhibition from Thursday, July 10 until Thursday, July 24 with people encouraged to make a written submission to council in relation to the proposal.

Meanwhile, a petition was handed around Forbes CBD with over 200 people signing in opposition to the sculpture being placed in the park.

Following the petition and a story published in the Advocate on Tuesday (‘Petition opposes sculpture’), the Advocate’s Facebook page and email inbox have been flooded with comments for and against the sculpture.

Council has also been inundated with submissions.

Those opposing the sculpture claim it is “ugly”, “pornographic”, “offensive”, “a disgrace”, “bears no relevance to the history of Forbes”, and feel that sculptures relating to Forbes would be more appropriate for the site.

One also suggested that council can find a better use for their money.

In response to the petition and those opposed to the sculpture, co-founder of the Somewhere Down the Lachlan Sculpture Trail, Rosie Johnston, said when it comes to art, complaints are to be expected.

“There will always be people who don’t have the insight or great vision to see the benefit all forms of art can bring to a community,” she said in a letter to the editor.

Comments on Facebook about the petition story took off with many people applauding the art society and council’s visions for a sculpture trail, saying it will bring tourists to town.

“Art and culture will bring people to town, make them want to hang around and one of the strongest reasons people relocate to a particular town,” Rosalie Burns said on Facebook.

Many people responded to the “ugly” comments by saying that art is subjective and that art is meant to be a talking point.

“Many people think Picasso’s work is 'ugly',” Bec Bennet said on Facebook. 

“As an artist myself I want to know what the meaning of the piece is. What were the artists' influences, inspirations, and feelings? How did the artist then decide to construct all of that into sculpture using this exact medium? If you know all of that, then tell me it's ugly and then at least you come from a place of understanding the piece as 'art'.”

Wendy Muffet said this is a great thing for Forbes and that nudity in art is found everywhere. 

“Step inside any of the world’s great art galleries, museums and public spaces and you will see famous, much loved works that show the human form in all its glory,” she said on Facebook. 

“Let’s celebrate this first step towards a truly international standard cultural experience accessible to all with its beginnings right here in Forbes.”

Forbes Shire Council’s director tourism, community and cultural development, Richard Morgan said it was great to see people so actively engaged in discussion about art and that it was important for the community to have a say.

“It is really important to have the community involvement and the community engaged and this is the time when the community is making some really valuable comments,” he said of the public exhibition.