By CanWest News Service

EDMONTON -- Ryan McCourt says it's "rather quaint" people are upset with nudity in his sculptures.

Two pieces depict elephant-headed Ganesha naked from the waist down. Another has him standing beside a pillar with a breast and female genitals on it.

Mayor Stephen Mandel asked for the temporary exhibition to be removed after receiving a letter signed by 16 Hindu elders, priests and other officials complaining about the "disrespectful treatment" of a religious figure.

McCourt said: "Nudity seems like a rather quaint thing to get one's knickers in a bunch over . . ."