ARTWORK showing mutilated children's dolls in coffins has created a storm at a York bar.

Dozens of old dolls, reclaimed from rubbish tips and car boot sales, have been put on display at the Slug And Lettuce as part of a new art exhibition.

But the show has provoked dozens of complaints and customers have even walked out of the bar in protest.

Creator Sasha Consiglio, 29, said "virtually every single customer" complained about her work on the first day of the show in the Back Swinegate bar.

The York fashion shop worker, who has been collecting and arranging the dolls for more than a year, said the furore was "ridiculous".

She said: "It's just dolls in coffins that children have manhandled. I have just put them to rest. Parents say they are disturbing, but kids think they are really interesting."

Slug And Lettuce manager Andrew Wingfield admitted the exhibition had caused "outrage" at the weekend, with some customers refusing to step inside the bar. But he said artists and staff had since "rejigged" the artefacts, by covering some of the more shocking pieces up with cardboard and moving some dolls away from areas used by children with their parents.

Andrew Hinkles, of York art group Return Of The Artist (ROTA), who is also exhibiting at the bar, said managers had handled the situation well. He said: "We are happy to have arrived at a solution where certain images have been moved and some covered up. We rely on the goodwill of the venue and we would not want to endanger that."

The show, which is part of ROTA's ongoing Pomp and Circumstance project, will remain on display until August 31.

Updated: 10:24 Tuesday, July 29, 2003