A pop-up Satan statue has been removed from a Vancouver park, shortly after the mysterious and controversial artwork was erected.

Vancouver officials say a nude statue of Satan was removed from a park near the Grandview Highway because it was not officially commissioned by the city.

The statue depicted a nine-foot-tall, anatomically-faithful figure of a red-skinned Satan, complete with horns and a visibly prominent representation of a phallus. The statue holds one hand up in a devil-horn salute.

Passersby first noticed the statue on Tuesday morning.

The sexually explicit statue was visible to commuters riding the SkyTrain route nearby.

No one has claimed responsibility for creating the statue.