Police are investigating a potential hate crime after a piece of art by a provocative Melbourne artist was criticised as homophobic and removed from a gallery in Wales.

Paul Yore said he was "shocked and dismayed" that his piece, Taste The Feeling, which was taken down from the Mostyn Gallery in Llandudno last week would be accused of being homophobic when it was, in fact, an attack on homophobia.

Artist Paul Yore Credit:Chris Crerar

The collage, which includes the faces of right-wing Australian politicians alongside slogans such as "God hates fags" used by the notoriously homophobic Westboro Baptist Church in the US, was removed after a complaint was posted on the gallery's Facebook page saying that the artwork "spewed homophobic hatred".

Mr Yore, who once had child porn charges dismissed over another controversial exhibition, said several other people also complained and that police had told the gallery the artwork could be seized as evidence of a hate crime. The work had been "completely misunderstood", he said.