Credit: Jimmy KingA new David Bowie statue that was officially unveiled in Aylesbury, U.K. Sunday has already been vandalized, the BBC reports. The bronze sculpture, which features various depictions of the late rock legend’s many personas and looks, was marred with spray paint, while slogans saying “RIP DB” and “Feed the Homeless First” were painted on the wall and sidewalk next to it.
Music promoter David Stopps, who raised money to have the statue created through grants and a crowd-funding campaign, told the BBC, “We can get that paint off, we will be working on it today…It is a public piece of art and we will keep looking after it on a daily basis…”There is a webcam on it 24/7 so whoever did it, we have got them on webcam.”
The sculpture, titled “Earthly Messenger,” was erected in Aylesbury because Bowie first performed as his Ziggy Stardust persona at the Friars venue located in the town during the early ’70s. The statue was designed by sculptor Andrew Sinclair, and features full figurines of Bowie as Ziggy Stardust and of David in 2002, as well as a bas relief montage that includes depictions of the singer from the film Labyrinth, his Aladdin Sane album cover, the “Ashes to Ashes” and “Lazarus” videos and more. Speakers mounted above the sculpture play a different Bowie song every hour.
Singer/songwriter Howard Jones was on hand to unveil the statue Sunday.
Stopps, whose crowd-funding initiative brought in more than 115,000 pounds, or about $163,000, for the statue, also recently launched a petition seeking to change the name of Aylesbury to “Aylesbowie.” You can check that out at Change.org.
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
