Sarah Horne was walking with her husband Jeremy and son Nathaniel along Victoria Terrace, Hove, on Boxing Day when they passed the Unique Arts gallery.
Nathaniel, seven, saw the controversial piece in the window and read it aloud, to the horror of his parents. The picture says “The neighbour’s cat is a massive t**t”.
Sarah criticised the gallery and said she would like an apology.
“It was extremely shocking to hear such a word come from my innocent son’s mouth. There are some kids who swear, but we are not like that,” said the 38-year-old from Hove.
“We don’t say bad words in front of him, we want to let him enjoy his childhood.
“We were walking home later on and he mentioned it again, he asked what it meant. I then explained that it was a bad word for the female anatomy.
“I am not an angry person but I felt a huge rage inside of me. I felt shocked and furious. They clearly do not think about the whole community, they do not think about the children.
“It really struck a chord in me because my son learnt something he shouldn’t.”
Sarah said she avoids taking Nathaniel to “quirky shops” which may stock products featuring “those sort of things”.
“But if it’s right in the front window then that choice is taken away from me,” she said.
“I’m not being a prude, my son will learn things in the future, but there has to have been more children who saw it.
“They need to take it down, they need to have something else in the window. They have beautiful artwork in there, they should swap it and apologise.”
The gallery rejected calls for an apology, claiming the artwork is serving its purpose as a topic of conversation.
A spokeswoman for Unique Arts said: “We are sorry that Mrs Horne and indeed her son were offended by the artwork.
“Upon reflection, however, we are satisfied that the artwork is doing what art is often meant to do – provoke thought and comment and even laughter.
“Whereas the word t**t might well be considered by some to be offensive, it is now common in modern day usage in the UK and is not classed as one of the most offensive of swear words.
“Indeed, in 2023 the UK Advertising Standards Authority rejected two complaints about an ad in The Sunday Times for the comedy show ‘Dawn French is a Huge T**t’, commenting, ‘the use of the word would be understood by readers to be self-deprecating and tongue-in-cheek, and it was not, for example, used in a sexual context’.
“We hope that in this instance, as with other Bob and Eve pieces of art, that most customers will appreciate the word is being used in the spirit of this same tongue-in-cheek context.”
The spokeswoman said the gallery’s displays “regularly change” and as this artist’s work usually sells quickly “Mrs Horne can rest assured that this artwork won’t always be there”.
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“In addition if she and her son would like to come in and say hello next time they are passing we will be very pleased to see them and appreciate the support for a small independent business,” she said.
Artists Bob and Eve responded to Mrs Horne’s complaints, saying: “We are sorry to hear that members of the public have been affected by their ongoing feud with next door’s cat.”
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