Oamaru artist Don Paterson said his sculpture, advertising his Steampunk-themed virtual-reality attraction, Dr Kano's Fantastic Flight, was removed after he received an abatement notice from the council.
In June, the Otago Daily Times reported the council asked Mr Paterson to apply for a retrospective consent for the sculpture, which depicts an apocalyptic clown grinning while carrying a variety of weapons, after it drew a complaint from a member of the public for glorifying violence.
The Tyne St business is located in the town's business heritage zone where there are ''specific controls ... to maintain and enhance the special visual qualities of the area and retain the architectural integrity of the buildings as a group''.
Council planning manager Hamish Barrell said yesterday Mr Paterson had not applied for a resource consent and so the abatement notice was issued.
Mr Paterson and his business partner, and fellow Oamaru artist, Jac Grenfell are the artists behind many of the town's Steampunk-themed public art pieces, including the train in front of Steampunk HQ, roughly 40m away, but outside the business heritage zone.
''You can imagine how that sort of sticks in the side a bit,'' Mr Paterson said yesterday.
''When you look across the road and they do nothing about the train, and a fisherman hanging off the roof, and a two-storey-high skull to the south of the building, great big tanks hanging over the fence. There's no consents or permits for that.
''We built Steampunk HQ and what we feel now is that we've taken it to another level.''
He said the council should be more concerned about the anachronistic Oamaru Squash and Badminton Club a few doors down in Tyne St attached to ''the side of that neat old Victorian building''.
''Talk about defacing a building.''
Mr Barrell said if the council became aware of a breach, it would take appropriate action ''whether we're notified by a member of the public or otherwise''.
''We are aware of other instances of non-compliance in the heritage area and ... when time allows, we will investigate.''
Deputy mayor Melanie Tavendale said the council was not ruling on taste, but on process.
''I think people need to realise that we do have rules for a reason and it's about making sure that we preserve what we've got in our heritage areas and making sure that people are comfortable.''
