The Illawarra's indigenous community has condemned a Wollongong art exhibition as showcasing derogatory and sexually explicit paintings of Aborigines during European settlement.Award-winning Thirroul artist Paul Ryan's new exhibition at Wollongong City Gallery, No Country for Dreaming, has been slammed as "offensive" by prominent indigenous leaders Richard Davis and Sharralyn Robinson.They say the nature of the paintings and accompanying titles, including the use of the word "abo" in one, are disturbing and hurtful to their people.Public outcry led to the temporary closure of the exhibition on Tuesday afternoon, but it was re-opened to the public yesterday.One of the images shows an Aboriginal man's body hanging from a tree, titled "The local boys just seem to hang about all day". A painting of an English officer holding the head of an Aborigine is captioned "Dearest mummy, having a jolly good time here in australia, the food's appalling but the hunting's first class. wish you were here, arthur."Another image that has caused an outcry depicts an Aboriginal man seemingly performing a sex act on an English officer.The painting is titled "Taking a shine to the locals".Ms Robinson, chief executive of the Illawarra Aboriginal Land Council, said she had been alerted to the exhibition by members of the indigenous community, prompting her to visit the gallery on Tuesday afternoon."I was horrified with what I saw and deeply offended," she said."I can't believe the gallery would allow such an exhibition to hang."Mr Davis said there was outrage in his community."We're disgusted that this type of work is in a public gallery. "How can that be considered art?" he said.Wollongong MP Noreen Hay said Mr Ryan should have consulted with the indigenous community and not proceeded in exhibiting the works without their endorsement.But Mr Ryan, speaking to the Mercury yesterday from Bali, said the titles were "deliberately and overtly ironic" to highlight the "violent nature" of Australia's colonial past.Mr Ryan claimed his work was far more critical on his own "white" heritage than of Aboriginal culture.He said while the titles were initially flippant and humorous, they were juxtaposed with the serious images, creating a message through irony.The paintings and their titles were not meant to be read so literally and the outrage surrounding the pieces might be a "gut reaction", he added.Mr Ryan is supported by Wollongong City Gallery, which is sticking by its decision to run the exhibition despite the controversy it has created.Gallery director John Monteleone said signs had been erected on the doors entering the gallery warning of the nature of Mr Ryan's images and visitors had the choice of whether to view them or not."It is unfortunate that despite the warnings some people choose to enter anyway and then were upset by the exhibition," he said.The gallery has now drafted a handout that will be given to visitors before they enter the room, which provides an explanation of the exhibition's intentions and the message conveyed.