GoElvis.com,

Portrayals of Elvis in his underwear, Elvis in the arms of the Madonna (the FIRST one, of course) and Elvis “eaten by ants” offended some of the entertainer’s fans and won’t be on public view this week.

A dozen photographs and pastel drawings of the late entertainer scheduled for display during the “Elvis 20/20: Past and Future” conference at Memphis College of Art have been taken off display. Three were removed last week; the remainder Sunday night after a private reception.

A few fans who viewed the works last week panned three of them, including the depiction of a near-naked Elvis and the stylized view of the singer rising from a sandy mound of fire ants.

“They made their complaints to me,” said Suzanne Henley, director of development for the art college. “It was not a rational situation. They were extremely unhappy.”

So unhappy, she said, that “they said they would get every Elvis fan in town to picket and they’d take down the building brick by brick and kick in every painting.”

Mary Stonebreaker, president of Elvis’ Hometown Fans, said that wasn’t true.

“We did tell them we would form a protest if they did not take them (the artworks) out,” Stonebreaker said. She lives near Graceland and has been president of the local fan club for the past six years.

Stonebreaker said she asked that the pastel of Elvis in his underwear with “planes circling his head like vultures” be taken down. She said the words “Are you Lonesome Tonight?” were carved into his torso. Officials removed the pastel on Tuesday.

The next day, Stonebreaker said, they took Lois Smith, a sister-in-law of Elvis’s mother Gladys Presley, to see the show. Smith was especially offended by the baby Elvis in the arms of Madonna and the Elvis eaten by ants, Stonebreaker said. “And she demanded that they be taken down from the wall,” Stonebreaker said. Those pieces were removed Wednesday, she said.

The rest of the exhibit was taken down Sunday night.

“They were really in very, very, very bad taste,” Stonebreaker said.

Two other college-sponsored Elvis exhibits on the upper levels of the building are still in place. The fans had no complaints about the other artworks. “Several had jelly doughnuts in them but it wasn’t offensive.”

When told the “Elvis 20/20” exhibit was now closed, Stonebreaker said, “That’s good. I am very glad they won’t be shown.”

Henley said MCA is “very excited” about making the college available for this week’s Elvis Presley conference sponsored by Delta Axis Contemporary Arts Center and the Institute for the Living South.

When she told conference sponsors of the complaints, they decided to withdraw the artworks from public display.

James Patterson, Delta Axis president, said he made the decision to pull all 12 pieces. Only guests at a private reception Sunday night were expected to see them, he said.

“If there is a demand, we will show them at the end of the conference” at a private reception Friday, he said.

Patterson, who had not talked with the irate fans, said security was a concern in his decision. He also said he didn’t want to display some works and not others, and he wanted to show respect for “the Elvis pilgrims” who might have been offended by the works.

Patterson noted Delta Axis and Institute for the Living South are renting space from the art college for the seminar.

Two of the paintings in question - Elvis in jockey shorts singing into a microphone and Madonna holding a dark-haired infant, presumably Elvis - were done by artist James Pink. Conference officials Sunday could not further identify Pink or his hometown.

Providence, R.I., artist Rita DeWitt, upon learning that her photograph Elvis Eaten by Ants had been pulled, said, “This is the first I’ve heard of it and I would say that is pretty amazing.”

DeWitt said the picture was taken in a New Orleans cemetery.

“It is an image of a young Elvis in an anthill and ants are swarming all over him . . .,” she said. “I would be fascinated to understand what their objection is. It is about art.”

Elvis fan club president Stonebreaker disagreed: “It’s about a sick mind. That’s exactly what it is.”

To reach Shirley Downing, call 529-2387 or E-mail downing@gomemphis.com