(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Beijing:A sculpture of a black swan -- a financial market term for a highly unlikely but powerful event -- was removed only hours after it was installed opposite China's securities regulator, reports and social media showed.
The spray-painted bronze sculpture, by Chinese artist Guo Jian, was put up in a shopping mall opposite the Beijing offices of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on Monday.
Later the same day mall staff covered it with a black cloth and took it away, Beijing's Fazhi Wanbao newspaper reported.
One online commentator said: "Not only does the CSRC dislike the black swan, the world's whole financial industry hates the phenomenon."
A "black swan" is a highly unlikely and unpredictable event with significant consequences. The term was popularised by the writer and statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and it is widely associated with the global financial crisis of 2008-9.
China's own stock market slumped last year, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index losing more 40 percent of its value in little over three months.
Guo said Tuesday that he did not intend any comment about financial mayhem. "I don't know who was offended by my sculpture," he told AFP. "I have no financial knowledge and do not invest in the stock market either."
The work was part of a series inspired by origami, the art of paper folding, he said. "I wanted to show the mysteriousness and fragility of the bird.
"As an artist I try to express my thoughts on human lives, from womb to tomb, in my work."
He has no idea where the sculpture has been taken, he added.
It was previously displayed at an exhibition in Beijing in 2014 and small versions of it are advertised online for $9,900.
No-one from the CSRC could be reached for comment by AFP.
It is not the first time artworks with financial associations have fallen foul of Chinese sensitivities.
Earlier this year, the same shopping mall displayed sculptures of two bears from a Chinese cartoon series. A "bear market" refers to one where prices are falling, and the figures were quickly replaced.
On a verified social media account Guo said: "I didn't know that a piece of my artwork could bring such a huge impact and pressure on the economy and stock market."
He joked that the piece could join the vast flow of assets leaving China as the yuan currency declines: "I will take my artwork to the United States."
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