The ancient walls of the Carcassonne Castle were 'defaced' with bright yellow circles
Felice Varini glued dizzying rings made of thin aluminium strips across the historic stones of Carcassonne Castle - France's second-most visited tourist site after the Eiffel Tower.
The massive hilltop citadel in the Languedoc-Roussillon region now resembles a giant target at a shooting range - and not everyone is pleased.
Locals reportedly set up a petition calling for the dizzying stripes to be removed
Tourism Carcassonne, who have been promoting the site's new look, said the stripes are "eccentric concentric circles", part of an event showcasing heritage and contemporary art in the area.
The organisation said Varini's spiralling artwork "spread like a wave, fragmenting and recomposing the geometry of the circles on the towers and curtain walls of the fortifications".
But many locals and tourists have slammed the design, calling it "ugly" and a "real horror", RT news reports.
Others on Instagram said they were "sad" to see such "vandalism completely disfiguring" the attraction.
Another told the tourist operator the circles are a "horror", adding: "What a shame to pay tens of thousands of Euros [for it]. It completely ruins this beautiful city".
Some 2,000 people have reportedly signed a petition demanding the circles be removed.
Locals told France Info radio that they had not been consulted about the exhibition, and that they're now forced to "look at it all day".
Some visitors, however, have praised the artwork, with one saying it is "kinda cool if you look at it from the right angle".
Despite the backlash, artist Varini has remained positive about his work.
He said the circles "perfectly" match the city's stonework and dismissed locals' concerns saying their reaction shows they are "deeply attached to their heritage".
In 2013, Varini placed giant geometric shapes across the facades of nine Victorian buildings around Granary Square in King's Cross, London.
Then they could call it: "Exploring the catholicism of supramodern gender re-configurations in the context of medieval stereotypical manifestations."
And after that, they could burn the painting in the square outside the Louvre.
And call that artistic event the "Pyrotechnical manifestations of re-evaluating the marketability of Renaissance stereotypical creationism."
No doubt the Press would hail both events as the latest and greatest in Western Art.