The removal of Ukrainian performance and visual artist Oleg Kulik's work from an international art fair in Paris has "shocked" the arts community, according to the fair's director.

Martin Bethenod, director of the International Fair of Contemporary Art, known by its French initials FIAC, blasted French authorities on Monday for pulling down some of Kulik's images last week.

On Friday, plain-clothes officers removed the photos from display at Paris's Grand Palais exhibition hall after a customs official expressed concern about them. In the photos, the Russian-based Kulik is depicted nude in suggestive poses with a variety of animals.

Officers photographed the artworks as part of a preliminary investigation into whether they constitute illicit pornography and then returned the pieces to the fair. Two Moscow gallery owners, Yelena Selina and Sergei Khripun, were also brought in for questioning and released.

"The whole of the art world present at the FIAC — galleries, collectors, amateurs, artists — were shocked," Bethenod told Agence France-Presse.

"These images have an unquestionable artistic status since they have been shown, bought [and] exhibited … since the 1990s," he said, adding that several of France's national art collections feature Kulik's artwork.

Bethenod also defended the works as "part of performances where the artist casts himself in extreme roles, such as one where he is shown as a dog, naked with a collar, barking and throwing himself at people and cars.

"Their message is not about promoting zoophilia but about asking where the limits lie between what is human and what is animal."

French law bans the publication or exhibition of violent or pornographic images where minors could see them. The Paris prosecutor's office must now decide whether to pursue the investigation.

The controversial Kulik, whose oeuvre spans performance art, sculpture and photography, is known for social-commentary performance works such as I Bite America and America Bites Me, Mad Dog, Reservoir Dog and Armadillo for Your Show. His work has also been exhibited at the prestigious Venice Biennale and by galleries throughout Europe.

With files from the Associated Press