Muhammad paintings banned in Oslo...

If only he had painted caricatures of George Bush, then everything would be fine...

An Oslo gallery has banned Swedish artist Lars Vilks from exhibiting water-colour caricatures of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

The owner of the gallery, Randi Thommessen, explained that she did not want to risk the exhibition stirring up a fuss in the mass media. The private Lautom Contemporary gallery in Oslo offered the artist the chance to exhibit work on another theme but Vilks refused, reports the Swedish newspaper Helsinborgs Dagblad.

In a letter to Vilks, Thommessen is reported to express her admiration for the Skåne-based artist but felt that the 'exaggerated debate with regard to the Muhammad caricatures was over and done with on her part.'

Vilks explained that the gallery's decision fits perfectly into his own current project regarding artistic freedom.

"The main purpose has been to illustrate how the art market conducts itself. Artists can do what they like, but certain subjects became incredibly sensitive," Vilks told Helisngborgs Dagblad.