A sculpture of Tina Turner was unveiled final week in Brownsville, Tennessee. (photograph courtesy PLA Media)
She’s merely the most effective. Higher than all the remainder. Sadly, the identical can’t be stated for the general public sculpture made in her honor.
Unveiled on the finish of final month in her rural hometown of Brownsville, Tennessee, a 10-foot bronze statue of the late singer-songwriter Tina Turner goes viral this week on social media, the place customers are calling it an “abomination” and “an insult to a great artist.”
The paintings was put in in Heritage Park throughout from the Grammy-winning artist’s alma mater, Carver Excessive Faculty, simply two years after her loss of life at 83 years previous. Created by Atlanta-based artist Fred Ajanogha, the work was funded by reportedly round 50 donors, together with Ford Motor Firm, which contributed $150,000 towards the venture as a part of a group preservation initiative, based on a press launch.
The work has drawn criticism from customers on-line, who say it’s a shame to the artist’s legacy. (screenshot Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic through @jameszimmermann on X)
The towering sculpture depicts Turner in a brief skirt and heels, mid-performance with a microphone raised in hand. However many commenters have fixated on the statue’s uncanny face or overly exaggerated, voluminous hair, which seems to be extra like Cousin It or the truffula timber in Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax than the well-known gravity-defying wigs the singer was identified to put on onstage.
It’s simply the most recent in a protracted line of criticized public statues of figures akin to civil rights chief Martin Luther King Jr., comic Lucille Ball, basketball icon Dwyane Wade, and soccer participant Cristiano Ronaldo.
It’s simply the most recent unhealthy public paintings meant to honor a cultural icon. (screenshot Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic through @wrongstanceprod on X)
The work has significantly struck a nerve given the legacy left behind by Turner, who is widely known not just for her contributions to music and tradition, but additionally for her enduring resilience to the racism and sexism that she skilled each personally and in her profession.
On social media, a proliferation of memes are making enjoyable of the botched work. Some are foolish, referencing a photoshopped Oprah Winfrey or the Marvel villain Kang the Conqueror; however others are simply as offensive to the singer’s reminiscence because the statue itself. Some have drawn comparisons to Hank Willis Thomas’s controversial sculpture within the Boston Widespread, which was criticized for its unintended phallic allusions.
There have additionally been many requires a greater tribute to Turner, like comic Kevin Fredericks’s video response on X:
“What’s art got to do with it? Who is this? She deserved better,” Fredericks stated.Hyperallergic has reached out to the artist for remark.
However maybe the artist himself stated it finest when he acknowledged in his opening remarks that an ideal likeness of the momentous musician was out of anybody’s grasp.
“You can copy her, but there’s only one Tina Turner,” he stated.
Many customers have advocated for a brand new sculpture that does higher to honor Tina Turner’s life and profession.
Many customers commented on the statue’s overly exaggerated hair. (screenshot Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic through @alanlambodublin on X)
Oh … (screenshot Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic through @Evans34610123 on X)
