Ananova:

Pigs tattooed with Louis Vuitton designer logos have been banned from an art exhibition.

The pigs with the trademark LV symbol and other designs were to form part of an exhibition at the Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair.

Wim Delvoye, a 43-year-old Belgian conceptual artist, created the exhibit, called Art Farm, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Delvoye had tattooed the designs on the animals when they were piglets and tracked the "canvases" as they grew.

However, gallery owners felt they were in poor taste after complaints.

Mr Delvoye said collectors came from Europe to see his eight pigs at the show in Shanghai, China. They had already been displayed at a Beijing art show.

Mr Delvoye bred his pigs on a farm outside Beijing, letting his tattoos grow with the animals.

He says his pigs were treated humanely and given sedatives before being tattooed. Collectors can buy them live or purchase their tattooed skins when they die of old age.

Mr Delvoye recently sold a tattoo of the on the back of a Swiss man which depicts the Virgin Mary with a lifeless skull for a record of around £120,000. Under their agreement, when the man dies the purchaser will be able to keep the tattoed skin.

The main difference between working on pigs and people was that "the pigs never had an opinion", according to Mr Delvoye.