Am I the only one getting a “Han Solo encased in carbonite” feel from it?
To me his expression and body language say determination rather than aggression. It is an excellent likeness and instantly recognizable. What’s not to like?
I just had a vision of someone figuring out the statue ALSO looks exactly like Uncle Reamus…
The statue looks okay to me. Yeah, it could be “better” or “worse” depending on your point of view, but geez does everybody have to get in tizzy about every fracking little thing these days? Not to say there still arent the occasional things where you really do wonder WTF were they thinking on this one?
I can see complaining about the Chinese granite thing if there was not any kind of structural problem with the Stone Mountain option - that would have been a perfect choice. And I can also understand the criticism that maybe the choice of artists was “sold.” However the statue looks excellent as far as I’m concerned, and King’s eyes did look like that. That makes the other complaints pretty minor.
I think part of the “Asian appearance” comes from the color of the stone: It looks like the same color as the famous terra-cotta warriors in the Forbidden City. The effect disappears completely in the final painted statue.
Exactly. Another trophy in Jabba’s lair.
The photos generally don’t offer a detailed look. Too small. However, the close-up of the head does look slightly Asian to me.
In drawing there is a tendency for artists to draw figures that resemble the artist. It’s not a universal inclination and good artists can compensate, but artists with round heads tend to make their subjects a bit spherical. Whether or not this is also the case with sculptors, I couldn’t say.
I like it. It is an excellent likeness of the man.
There is not much more you can ask of a sculptor than that.
I think I might be a bit out of touch. I looked at the statue and my first thought was the controversy must be because of it’s resemblance to Michelangelo’s “slave” statues.
Personally I like the statue.
He’s saying, “Don’t fuck with me or mine,” which works as well with his own movement as it would with a more militant one. Only here he’s a stern preacher using guilt, not violence, against his oppressors. Guilt is often more effective, with the only response being, “Sorry, pastor. Won’t happen again.”
Yeah, the statue makes King look Asian. Because King DID look Asian. That’s just what he looked like; there’s no getting around it.
FIRST, this is not a racial issue. This is a style and political issue. If I were hired to do a sculpture of Chairman Mao and made him look Caucasian or African, the statue would be hated in China and it would have been racist of me to sculpt it to look anything other than Chairman Mao. Please read and review the entire post before judging.
I will upload two photos. ONE is the ACTUAL photo the artist used to make this statue and the other of Dr. King, the Statue and chairman Mao.
(actual photo used to create the statue–now does the statue look like Dr King?) Oh, I pulled out my calipers for the eyes–Dr. King’s eyes have never been that narrow in ANY of his photos.
(above is a photo of King, the statue, and Chairman Mao) Does this looks like they overlaid Kings facemask over a Mao statue or am I wrong? The face is not REALLY Dr. Kings.
Notice the eyes are DEFINITELY narrower (Dr. King had hooded eyes but not Asian eyes), the forehead is broader and squarer (Dr. King had a round forehead but Mao had a square forehead and jaw), the upper lip is larger, the coat is classic Stalin/Mao military uniform. This isn’t about race but why does he look like an Asian dictator in China or Russian in this statue? Is it because the Artist is famous for sculpting dictators? And the Artist just continued his own style??
**The artist first sculpture was refused by the committee because it WAS CLEARLY Asian. So the artist was attempting to make Dr. King look Asian from the beginning. **
Communist cubist art always has the men standing tall in uniforms that “blouse out’ at the bottom with large pocket flaps. Dr. King didn’t wear this kind of suit. BUT all of Mao’s statues and Stalin’s statues look exactly like this with the military style coats and stern look. THIS artist did the Mao statue in China, it is the artists preferred style. In the original photo, Dr Kings eyes look up in deep thought but in the statue they look menacingly down and to the side.
This statue not only doesn’t look like Dr.King but doesn’t capture who he was. We now have a Socialist cubist style statue in the center of Washington DC–OUR DEMOCRACY, this is not communist China as the style suggests. This is not a review of Dr. King but of using a Socialist propaganda sculpting style and putting it in Washington DC. It is just not appropriate. This statue is more reminiscent of a communist dictator than a humble composed minister of God who practiced Civil Disobedience. This statue teaches NOTHING of Dr. King’s ideals.
This statue could have been done in Bronze or stone or a million other ways and been beautiful. **It is now just HUGE but not beautiful. **Ask any person with an art background.
Again nothing to do with race. It was fine to use a Chinese artist if he intended to sculpt Dr. King as he actually looked and stood. Should a monument be a classic, ‘beautiful’ monument or just really HUGE monument that is reminiscent of all the communist statues in China and Russia? Would Dr. King like it? Can you feel the man through this statue? What he was like?
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Wow, you’re right, aside from the chin, mouth, cheeks, nose, eyes, and forehead, that face looks exactly like Mao’s!
The man’s son likes the statue. What’s to discuss?
You can’t say it’s a racial issue and then go on about how Asian = Chinese = communist. The Mao thing is laughable. Come on now. Look at those three pictures you’ve put next to each other: a picture of Dr. King, a statue of Dr. King that looks a lot but not exactly like him, and a statue of Mao that does not look at thing like the statue. How does this prove your point?
Yes, you’re wrong.
So if I showed you a picture of the statue, you would really guess it was Mao or some Asian dictator and not Martin Luther King Jr.? If you look at pictures of the man, you can see his eyes were a little almond-shaped. There are plenty of black people whose eyes have that shape. The rest of your complains are about the fact that the image is a little bit idealized.
I was not aware the artist was asked to reproduce a photo.
So let me get this straight.
People are complaining about the race of a man who was tasked to sculpt a memorial to a man who’s life’s work was creating a society where race doesn’t matter.
The irony is so heavy it could crush a neutron star.
What you have to realize is this: A lot of my people are fucking idiots.
“I have a dream!”
“I know.”
It explains so much!
“I can get you to a just and tolerant society in just five parsecs.”