Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx made a series of calculated moves to determine how far art and nudity can be pushed on Facebook, which has resulted in the deletion of several fans’ accounts.

Sixx’s account remains standing.

According to Spinner, it all began when he decided to tease some of the photos from his book/memoir 'This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx.'

The photos include portraits of cultural outcasts, some of which might make viewers uncomfortable.

Sixx started with an outtake, a picture that did not make the book.

"It was this girl Farah -- she's about 350 pounds and she saw her mother kill herself and was put out on the streets for prostitution and she ended up doing pornography. I was looking for a woman that would pose nude that was extremely overweight -- there's a bunch of messages behind that."

The photo was deleted by Facebook

“And I went, 'Oh, you can't put art on Facebook?' So then I posted another photo that I shot of a guy who's transgender[ed]. So he had breasts, but he's still a guy," Sixx explained.

Facebook banned that one as well.

Next step from Sixx: let’s try art from another source, his newest musical project Sixx:A.M.

"I posted Sixx:A.M.'s 'Lies of the Beautiful People' single, which features another one of my photographs of a girl who has had half her face burned off, and it was also deleted saying 'Final notice -- you can't post any more of your photos.'"

Looking around on Facebook, seeing half-naked teenagers and “stuff way worse” than his art, he decided to gather feedback from his fans. So, he posted what the site had said to him about “Rules and Regulations.”

“Immediately 250,000 people changed their profile picture to that photo. So everyone's going, 'Why don't you change yours?' and I was worried they were going to delete my account, but finally I just posted it," he said.

Surprisingly, the site didn’t delete his account. Instead they deleted those of his fans who had reposted the picture as their profile.

“Eventually, I just thought this was so ridiculous, and I posted half-naked pictures of myself, and nobody's complained."

The photos, taken with a “lady companion” are risqué, but show no nudity. He’s not certain what his ultimate intentions are with the posts, but he is willing to explore the issue of social media, art, and censorship.

"So I'm asking where is this at? Is this censorship? Is this a double standard? What's happening?

“I think [the point] is seeing where we're at socially," he said.