Elton John’s ‘child porn’ seized in police raid

During a child porn investigation, authorities confiscated a picture from Sir Elton John’s famous art collection.

Today, Elton’s website stated that he had bought the contentious work and that it was currently on loan to a gallery.

The photograph was shot at the BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, Northumbria, police said. They stated on Tuesday that a photo from an exhibit had been taken “to assess whether or not an offense had been committed.”

Nan Goldin’s belly-dancing painting, Klara and Edda, depicts two nude girls smiling and playing. One is draped in costume cloth, while the other lies on her back with her knees bent beneath her.

Lawyers for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service must evaluate whether the photograph purchased at auction by Sir Elton is art or pornography.

The artist’s name and the piece involved were not confirmed by the police or the gallery’s proprietors.

Detectives confiscated the photograph the day before a public exhibition of the musician’s private collection was set to open at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.

“The photograph exists as part of the installation as a whole and has been widely published and exhibited throughout the world,” the 60-year-old musician explained.

“It can be found in the monograph of Ms. Goldin’s works entitled `The Devil’s Playground’ (Phaidon, 2003), has been offered for sale at Sotheby’s New York in 2002 and 2004, and has previously been exhibited in Houston, London, Madrid, New York, Portugal, Warsaw and Zurich without any objections of which we are aware.”

Northumbria Police are currently looking into whether it violates any pornographic laws.

Goldin’s candid, often sexually graphic art has gotten him both critical acclaim and police scrutiny.

Police in London ordered that one of Goldin’s images be removed from the Saatchi Gallery in 2001, claiming it was lewd. The gallery objected, and officials eventually caved, claiming that there was no realistic chance of a conviction in the case.