'Art critic' takes scissors to adapted Rodin sculpture

A controversial adaptation of Auguste Rodin's sculpture of two lovers entwined in a passionate clinch has temporarily become a relationship with no strings attached.

Cornelia Parker's reworking of the masterpiece – The Distance (A Kiss with String Attached), which involved wrapping a mile of string around an original work – was undone by a few careful scissor snips during an orchestrated act of destructive art criticism, officials from Tate Britain confirmed yesterday.

Accompanied by a photographer and several couples, who stood around the statue kissing, a man snipped away at a "significant amount" of the string until staff at the gallery grabbed him. Police were called and a 36-year-old man from Notting Hill, west London, was arrested for suspected criminal damage. Scotland Yard said yesterday that he had been bailed until later in the month.

The work was taken off display after the attack and was being assessed by the gallery's conservators yesterday. Ms Parker is expected to give the statue a fresh wrapping of string before it goes back on display today or tomorrow.

The exhibit, designed to show the claustrophobia of modern relationships, has drawn strong criticism since it was unveiled last month for the Days Like These exhibition of 23 modern artists' work at Tate Britain. The art critic Brain Sewell has described the work as an "abuse" of Rodin.

Staff at the gallery said Saturday's act was a protest against the artist.The artist was unavailable for comment. Initial signs suggest that the marble statue has not been damaged. Rodin sculpted The Kiss between 1901 and 1904. When it was first displayed in Lewes, East Sussex, in 1914, it sparked such outrage that it was fenced off and covered with a sheet.