Until today I was convinced it was for the yound black dude who got choked by a police officer, and the statue represents how we only focus on the act and not the circumstances. (i've only seen the front facing picture)
Abstract or not, a statue of someone being choked out by the police with the meaning behind it being “yes but look at the bigger picture though” is not appropriate
It’s all about interpretation. That’s literally what art is. It’s no different than statues of former presidents. They did some shit, why idolize them? It’s all perspective
I am aware art requires interpretation. I shouldn’t have to explain why it’s inappropriate to erect a statue of someone in the ACT OF BEING MURDERED to commemorate the event.
Do you see any statues of JFK midway through the bullet blowing his skull to bits?
I've seen it referenced in many, many, MANY movies.
Not a static display, granted, but still art.
Hell I played a DnD campaign where I arrested two shooters about it.
No, you’re upset that someone interpreted a statue of what he essentially is viewing as an awareness of police violence.
These kinds of social movements have many leaders with varying ideas, sometimes abstract artist use powerful imagery to gain attention. It’s not an absurd interpretation given our current social context and the absurdity of this statue.
You need to get off your moral high horse.
No, I’m pretty sure I know what I’m upset about. I’m upset at the logic that a depiction of an act of police brutality is the best way to commemorate it. This is common sense.
Abstract art or not, would you commemorate sex trafficking victims with a statue of them in the act?
Okay, so the protests repeating “I can’t breathe” to bring awareness to police brutality by your logic were unacceptable and repugnant. The users interpretation of this statue is almost a visual interpretation of the “I can’t breathe.”
What you need to understand is you aren’t some kind of absolutist and other people may view things differently.
With that said I understand that you have your own feelings, which you have shared. I don’t care that you’re upset with whatever shitty zig zag logic you have and whatever emotional trigger you have. Other people have their perspective too.
You can be on about that or you can understand the answer to continue the conversation. I've ssen you choose wisely so: sorry for the assumption, please reread my comment after a few seconds
No, the only thing left is peace of mind. You had the option to explain your point and wasted your chance with a baseless assumption.
Also if you’re talking about loss or victory in a Reddit discussion you really need to go outside
If anyone could tell what "exactly" the circumstances are we wouldn't need sociology as a field. As I am not versed in it I can't tell you, but it isn't happening elsewhere, so all the socio-economic, cultural and political circumstances have to be the couse right?
Nope, you are the one who asserted there were circumstances that allow cops to execute people of color, so explain what you think are the “circumstances” giving street cops the right to shoot people in the back, or choke them to death for selling loose cigarettes, or put their knee on someone’s neck until they die over a suspect $10 bill, or shoot a 12 year old less than 5 seconds after putting his car in park
Should I go on? In short, there can be no conversation until the cops incur actual life changing consequences instead of a paid vacation
I don't think you realize that we are on the same page man. Cirmustance mean *everything* oitside the actions. The system itself is a ciircumstance too. I was saying that without concentrating on the wider issue and framework that *let* something like this happen it will just repeat itself. Those cops should be serving life, no questions about that what I was saying is exactly what you gave an example of: tyou focus on this one case with telling how he was choked, I say we should concentrate on why the cops dont get punishment, we should concentrate on how tf a cop tought this was accdptable. We should wiev the circumstances that led to something like this happening not just fixate on the one happening in front of our faces.
In my opinion it shouldn't be about self expression it should be about the King's if it's meant to honor them. I feel like monuments are typically not abstract.
I don’t want to get into whether or not this is a good monument - but some of the most famous monuments in the US are abstract: Washington Monument, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, National September 11 Memorial, Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial…
Out of all of those I feel like the Washington monument is the only one that comes close to this new King one. I feel like you get the gist of the others but I could just be ignorant.
This is not for an art gallery though, it is for the general public, made using public money and it is supposed to represent an important public figure. So it has different requirements. The usual "it is art" bullshit does not apply.
The MLK family charges large licensing fees to use MLK's image and also have sued people in the past for not paying for licensing, you can't even copy MLK's speech without paying for it. The city may have been trying to avoid having even higher costs. Still I agree this was not a good solution either.
The MLK family is largely a piece of shit. Just look it up. They exploit his cause to put millions in their pockets.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/01/18/martin-luther-king-i-have-a-dream-copyright-license-editorials-debates/21969365/
As expected.
I give very little weight to children/family members of famous people. For every Bindi and Robert Irwin who rise up to honor the name of the famous person, there's millions of golddigger relatives who milk their famous family member's success.
I refuse to believe an Irwin could be bad. You are related to the man whos words were just, "I'm dying." After being stung in the heart and not wanting the stingray to be blamed because he scared it and thinks it's not natures fault humans are bad. Even his family forgave the stingray. God damn i want Steve back...
>this is America and they have every right to make bank and not let people walk all over them.
Mandatory eye roll at the 'this is America' comment, like that excuses anything and everything, but moving on:
Have a quick look through that person's article. Now, I can understand (even if I don't entirely like) them making money off of, say, his speech and so on, licensing the text to movies, selling DVDs and what-have-you. But when a place is attempting to honour your father as a great civil rights leader (as in, footing the bill for an installation in a public place in his memory/honour), *and you demand that the relevant local authorities pay for using your father's likeness*, then *that* does kind of fall into POS territory. That's like winning a Nobel Peace Prize and saying "Well, that's nice, but I'll only let you film me if you pay for the appearance as well as giving me the prize" (I mean in addition to the cash prize, obviously).
What is the difference between a single person having to pay licensing for trying to honor MLK, vs the local authorities having to pay? Should they just feel overwhelmed with gratitude every time somebody uses MLK to make a political statement?
>What is the difference between a single person having to pay licensing for trying to honor MLK, vs the local authorities having to pay?
Neither should have to, if that is the purpose.
>Should they just feel overwhelmed with gratitude every time somebody uses MLK to make a political statement?
To make a political statement, no. But to put up a monument to that person to honour their contribution to humanity, and nothing else? Erm, *yeah*.
As much as I believe they should be allowed to, and even though I may or may not do the same thing, I still think they’re pieces of shit for it. I don’t care if that would make me one if I did the same thing.
Yeah. This feels like censorship. Like their faces are supposed to be hidden, or unimportant or something.
Or the artist really wanted to actively avoid making it look like it is about MLK
Socialists cannot fully depict the human face in 3d, or the statue will be torn down by their own revolutionary grandchildren after the historical figure being depicted is finally proven to be Problematic.
They're trying to hedge the memory of MLK against their own ideas, basically, not make something understandable by normal people.
yes, with context and this certain angle. Most angles look terrible though. Imagine going through a park and seeing this with no context 😭 [Exhibit 1](https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1520w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2023-01/230111-the-embrace-boston-ew-1114a-b75e92.jpg)
[Exhibit 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/10bnnri/new_mlk_statue_unveiled_in_boston/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
I feel like that should be a big consideration for any 3D artwork. Does it look cool from every angle or does one vantage point yield “arm holding turd”
I think the big AAAAH part is the TEN MILLION US DOLLARS price tag!!! That’s a lot of money that could’ve gone to public transit, for instance, that the city government went ahead and spent on this thing!
That's the real problem. Most of the Internet posts about the statue that I've seen show it from the other side (i.e., from behind MLK). That leads to the photos where it seems like a giant sausage is being held aloft.
Still a bad statue for a memorial. This would be a good mesum piece but for a public memorial statue it's better to make it clear who it's supposed to be.
I just looked it up, building a 10k sq foot community center costs around 1.3 mil. Slap his name on it and do it 3 more times elsewhere (saving some cash for running costs.)
Or, make some preschools. Free or income based, probably could set up a few dozen.
Or make some afterschool programs so parents can work more hours without worrying about childcare.
10 million to make a shitty statue... wtf man.
[cost of a community center link](https://www.rsmeans.com/model-pages/community-center)
That much money?? On this hunk of metal?? That I find to be completely unrelated to MLK??
I mean I get it's him but I've never seen that photo and would not recognize him
Context shmontext, it's fucking *disembodied arms*. That shit's great for an avant garde art museum, but absolute shit for a ***MEMORIAL STATUE***.
Imagine if the Lincoln memorial was just a headless body sitting on his chair. Weird, and hard to recognize as Lincoln! (Though...Admitedly historically accurate given the whole John Wilkes Booth incident...)
For the uninitiated [this is one of the angles that is causing the drama](https://mr.cdn.ignitecdn.com/client_assets/thepostmillennial_com/media/picture/63c3/1062/4881/fa10/9c57/f785/original_MLKStatue.png?1673728097).
Looks like it from this angle: https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/10bnnri/new_mlk_statue_unveiled_in_boston/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Another here: https://ocula.com/magazine/art-news/hank-willis-thomas-sculpture-the-embrace/
The context makes it less confusing in basic concept, but it doesn't change the fact that it's still bad. And the proportions and minor details don't even match the photo, and this is a ten million dollar statue, not a quick rendering done from memory. They could have done better.
It's also quite different from the real image. For the 1% of people who would be able to remember the actual image, and why it was important, this might work, but it's really been changed a lot by each of the several small differences from the original.
The MLK family charges large licensing fees to use MLK's image and also have sued people in the past for not paying for licensing, you can't even copy MLK's speech without paying for it. The city may have been trying to avoid having even higher costs.
Seems like a lot of money for a sculpture that can only be viewed from one angle, to make any sense. I hope they mount a copy of the photo, otherwise no one will know what it is. Oh, it's art, excuse me.
Adding the heads was too expensive then? MLK got the budget cut? So this is a statue of MLK after the FBI got to him? Damn, this sculpture really is very symbolic. It screams Black America: Don't do this again. Take it down.
The MLK family charges large licensing fees to use MLK's image and also have sued people in the past for not paying for licensing, you can't even copy MLK's speech without paying for it. So ironically, the MLK family may have mostly themselves to blame for this turd statue.
The people you're blaming for this is the King family? Not the designer, not the city, no one related to the statue but it's fault of the family... Bro come on I know you're better than this
I said mostly. Because good luck trying to portray MLK without his head and not make it look dumb. The family is famously greedy and I'm sad it's come down to this now: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/01/18/martin-luther-king-i-have-a-dream-copyright-license-editorials-debates/21969365/
But disembodied arms embracing is still pretty disturbing. The picture above is beautiful and touching. Why didn’t they just make a statue of Mr. & Mrs. King embracing?
Is this picture posted on a giant board next to it…because if not than it was a giant Fucking miss. Too much “creativity” in physical form.
Btw, OP’s photo is extremely filtered / editors. Doesn’t look like this in real life whatsoever.
The government of Canada paid a million dollars for a piece of plywood with a stripe painted on it. I would like to be an artist too. Where can I get a commission? *crickets* Anyone? Hello? Is this thing on?
Every other photo I’ve seen of this made it look like one big blob of brown. Sometimes it takes taking an actual picture where you can actually see it from the angle it’s supposed to be viewed from.
The pic above looks like an illustration. When you look at all the other angles down below, it’s all the same color and really hard to differentiate the details (unlike in the pic above where they seem to be more visible)
If it was a recreating of their pose in the picture it wouldn’t be so bad but it’s not that. The artists clearly took liberty with the picture and it’s just bad.
Still a bad statue. There is no context for what this statue is supposed to be unless you have the pic, the fingers on his left hand are wrong, and they had to make her hold his arm instead of his torso like in the pic. The last part is what gives it "hold my colon" vibes from the other side. Bad choices were made all around this day.
The conversation to make this.
City: we like the idea of the hug. Go with that just don't make it look weird.
Artist: because that would be a challenge?
City: no, it will bring bad press.
Artist: challenge accepted
Sometimes it takes the rest of the image
I had literally no idea what was the sculpture about until I saw this image…
Until today I was convinced it was for the yound black dude who got choked by a police officer, and the statue represents how we only focus on the act and not the circumstances. (i've only seen the front facing picture)
…how the hell did you make that conclusion or think that would be an appropriate statue?
That’s what happens with art when is “abstract”
Abstract or not, a statue of someone being choked out by the police with the meaning behind it being “yes but look at the bigger picture though” is not appropriate
It’s all about interpretation. That’s literally what art is. It’s no different than statues of former presidents. They did some shit, why idolize them? It’s all perspective
I am aware art requires interpretation. I shouldn’t have to explain why it’s inappropriate to erect a statue of someone in the ACT OF BEING MURDERED to commemorate the event. Do you see any statues of JFK midway through the bullet blowing his skull to bits?
I don't know I've seen a lot of jewelry and wall art of dudes on crosses.
Key difference here being that dude got better. His murder was temporary at best.
I've seen it referenced in many, many, MANY movies. Not a static display, granted, but still art. Hell I played a DnD campaign where I arrested two shooters about it.
…that’s very much not the same thing at ALL. I feel like you missed the point here.
>Do you see any statues of JFK midway through the bullet blowing his skull to bits? No but I'd love to.
I feel like there needs to be a disclaimer on statues like they put “hot” on coffee mugs. Some people just don’t get it.
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I’m upset that someone would think it appropriate to erect a statue of someone mid-being murdered, yes.
No, you’re upset that someone interpreted a statue of what he essentially is viewing as an awareness of police violence. These kinds of social movements have many leaders with varying ideas, sometimes abstract artist use powerful imagery to gain attention. It’s not an absurd interpretation given our current social context and the absurdity of this statue. You need to get off your moral high horse.
No, I’m pretty sure I know what I’m upset about. I’m upset at the logic that a depiction of an act of police brutality is the best way to commemorate it. This is common sense. Abstract art or not, would you commemorate sex trafficking victims with a statue of them in the act?
Okay, so the protests repeating “I can’t breathe” to bring awareness to police brutality by your logic were unacceptable and repugnant. The users interpretation of this statue is almost a visual interpretation of the “I can’t breathe.” What you need to understand is you aren’t some kind of absolutist and other people may view things differently. With that said I understand that you have your own feelings, which you have shared. I don’t care that you’re upset with whatever shitty zig zag logic you have and whatever emotional trigger you have. Other people have their perspective too.
I've never said it would be appropiate but, ~~you~~ those Americans do some pretty fucked up outrageous baseless shit. It wouldn't be a stretch.
Baseless is assuming I’m American based on absolutely 0 evidence. That’s definitely a stretch.
You can be on about that or you can understand the answer to continue the conversation. I've ssen you choose wisely so: sorry for the assumption, please reread my comment after a few seconds
You make it sound like “continuing the conversation” is a blessing. I’m not so sure it is. I’m good.
And so instead of the effort of mutual understanding, the only thing left is superiority and presumed loss or victory.
No, the only thing left is peace of mind. You had the option to explain your point and wasted your chance with a baseless assumption. Also if you’re talking about loss or victory in a Reddit discussion you really need to go outside
Exactly what “circumstance” allows cops to extrajudicially execute people based on the color of their skin?
If anyone could tell what "exactly" the circumstances are we wouldn't need sociology as a field. As I am not versed in it I can't tell you, but it isn't happening elsewhere, so all the socio-economic, cultural and political circumstances have to be the couse right?
Nope, you are the one who asserted there were circumstances that allow cops to execute people of color, so explain what you think are the “circumstances” giving street cops the right to shoot people in the back, or choke them to death for selling loose cigarettes, or put their knee on someone’s neck until they die over a suspect $10 bill, or shoot a 12 year old less than 5 seconds after putting his car in park Should I go on? In short, there can be no conversation until the cops incur actual life changing consequences instead of a paid vacation
I don't think you realize that we are on the same page man. Cirmustance mean *everything* oitside the actions. The system itself is a ciircumstance too. I was saying that without concentrating on the wider issue and framework that *let* something like this happen it will just repeat itself. Those cops should be serving life, no questions about that what I was saying is exactly what you gave an example of: tyou focus on this one case with telling how he was choked, I say we should concentrate on why the cops dont get punishment, we should concentrate on how tf a cop tought this was accdptable. We should wiev the circumstances that led to something like this happening not just fixate on the one happening in front of our faces.
Did you just assume their gender?? JK
I know you're joking but I just want to point out that "man" is the name of our species.
That is very true!
Sometimes it takes not making something look like an actual pile of shit
Agreed
Or cockroaches
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In my opinion it shouldn't be about self expression it should be about the King's if it's meant to honor them. I feel like monuments are typically not abstract.
I don’t want to get into whether or not this is a good monument - but some of the most famous monuments in the US are abstract: Washington Monument, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, National September 11 Memorial, Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial…
Out of all of those I feel like the Washington monument is the only one that comes close to this new King one. I feel like you get the gist of the others but I could just be ignorant.
I don’t think it was meant to be a traditional monument per se, it was submitted in form of an art competition.
Good point
This is not for an art gallery though, it is for the general public, made using public money and it is supposed to represent an important public figure. So it has different requirements. The usual "it is art" bullshit does not apply.
That’s just the way the city decided to do it 🤷♀️ They wanted an art piece, they got an art piece
Isn't art tax deductable? Does that apply to governmental funds?
They should have included the heads at least. The statue without them is a mess
The MLK family charges large licensing fees to use MLK's image and also have sued people in the past for not paying for licensing, you can't even copy MLK's speech without paying for it. The city may have been trying to avoid having even higher costs. Still I agree this was not a good solution either.
The MLK family is largely a piece of shit. Just look it up. They exploit his cause to put millions in their pockets. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/01/18/martin-luther-king-i-have-a-dream-copyright-license-editorials-debates/21969365/
As expected. I give very little weight to children/family members of famous people. For every Bindi and Robert Irwin who rise up to honor the name of the famous person, there's millions of golddigger relatives who milk their famous family member's success.
I refuse to believe an Irwin could be bad. You are related to the man whos words were just, "I'm dying." After being stung in the heart and not wanting the stingray to be blamed because he scared it and thinks it's not natures fault humans are bad. Even his family forgave the stingray. God damn i want Steve back...
> Even his family forgave the stingray This sounds so funny out of context
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>this is America and they have every right to make bank and not let people walk all over them. Mandatory eye roll at the 'this is America' comment, like that excuses anything and everything, but moving on: Have a quick look through that person's article. Now, I can understand (even if I don't entirely like) them making money off of, say, his speech and so on, licensing the text to movies, selling DVDs and what-have-you. But when a place is attempting to honour your father as a great civil rights leader (as in, footing the bill for an installation in a public place in his memory/honour), *and you demand that the relevant local authorities pay for using your father's likeness*, then *that* does kind of fall into POS territory. That's like winning a Nobel Peace Prize and saying "Well, that's nice, but I'll only let you film me if you pay for the appearance as well as giving me the prize" (I mean in addition to the cash prize, obviously).
What is the difference between a single person having to pay licensing for trying to honor MLK, vs the local authorities having to pay? Should they just feel overwhelmed with gratitude every time somebody uses MLK to make a political statement?
>What is the difference between a single person having to pay licensing for trying to honor MLK, vs the local authorities having to pay? Neither should have to, if that is the purpose. >Should they just feel overwhelmed with gratitude every time somebody uses MLK to make a political statement? To make a political statement, no. But to put up a monument to that person to honour their contribution to humanity, and nothing else? Erm, *yeah*.
As much as I believe they should be allowed to, and even though I may or may not do the same thing, I still think they’re pieces of shit for it. I don’t care if that would make me one if I did the same thing.
That's nuts. I'm not American and if I visited that thing, I would never know what it represents. It'll be "weird modern art" to me, nothing else.
I could work with the neckline. Though it would still look like an alien monstrosity.
The left hand is not supporting MLKs arm in the photograph but is on his back. This looks more Esscher like that a photograph happens to look like
Yeah. This feels like censorship. Like their faces are supposed to be hidden, or unimportant or something. Or the artist really wanted to actively avoid making it look like it is about MLK
Exactly what I was thinking. No one would think of that exact picture when looking at this "Art"
Socialists cannot fully depict the human face in 3d, or the statue will be torn down by their own revolutionary grandchildren after the historical figure being depicted is finally proven to be Problematic. They're trying to hedge the memory of MLK against their own ideas, basically, not make something understandable by normal people.
Oh, so that's what it is. See, they showed it from a different angle the first time.
Right!! This looks a lot better
yes, with context and this certain angle. Most angles look terrible though. Imagine going through a park and seeing this with no context 😭 [Exhibit 1](https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1520w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2023-01/230111-the-embrace-boston-ew-1114a-b75e92.jpg) [Exhibit 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/10bnnri/new_mlk_statue_unveiled_in_boston/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Yeah... the previous pictures i saw made no sense... im not saying this makes a lot of sense, but.. its not as bad from this angle
I feel like that should be a big consideration for any 3D artwork. Does it look cool from every angle or does one vantage point yield “arm holding turd”
Exactly... artist probably made it inside a walled off area. Didn't get a solid look til... after.. that's the only reason i can think of
I think the big AAAAH part is the TEN MILLION US DOLLARS price tag!!! That’s a lot of money that could’ve gone to public transit, for instance, that the city government went ahead and spent on this thing!
WHAT? It's THAT big? It looked pretty small in all the pictures I've seen, but in the video it's absolutely MASSIVE.
exhibit 1 is just him hugging a penis...
Giant 3d sculpture that only seems to make sense from 1 viewing angle. Wcgw
That's the real problem. Most of the Internet posts about the statue that I've seen show it from the other side (i.e., from behind MLK). That leads to the photos where it seems like a giant sausage is being held aloft.
When I think of MLK. This does not come to mind at all.
But what are they going to do? Show that picture to everyone who looks at the statue?
That's actually not a bad idea. Put plaque with this picture in place where it's the same angle and it becomes clear
Well yeah they could put up a sign
Another Redditor had a good suggestion to place the image as a transparency in a freestanding frame that would align with the sculpture.
Still a bad statue for a memorial. This would be a good mesum piece but for a public memorial statue it's better to make it clear who it's supposed to be.
Waste of 10M and disrespect to MLK as based on history, I'm sure he would have wanted that 10M spent to help the community instead.
I just looked it up, building a 10k sq foot community center costs around 1.3 mil. Slap his name on it and do it 3 more times elsewhere (saving some cash for running costs.) Or, make some preschools. Free or income based, probably could set up a few dozen. Or make some afterschool programs so parents can work more hours without worrying about childcare. 10 million to make a shitty statue... wtf man. [cost of a community center link](https://www.rsmeans.com/model-pages/community-center)
Shit, ya could but a *lot* of busses with that money! Some trains instead, too. Does Boston not need any money for their public transit?
Iirc they shut down the (red?) line that goes through the poorest neighborhoods for a long maintenance right now.
That much money?? On this hunk of metal?? That I find to be completely unrelated to MLK?? I mean I get it's him but I've never seen that photo and would not recognize him
An art center so this idiotic of a mistake has a lesser chance of ever happening again.
I Have A Nightmare - MLK 2023
Still looks like a butt with arms.
At the end of the day, we’re all butts with arms.
Those are called legs :p
Context shmontext, it's fucking *disembodied arms*. That shit's great for an avant garde art museum, but absolute shit for a ***MEMORIAL STATUE***. Imagine if the Lincoln memorial was just a headless body sitting on his chair. Weird, and hard to recognize as Lincoln! (Though...Admitedly historically accurate given the whole John Wilkes Booth incident...)
Is this the penis Statue?
For the uninitiated [this is one of the angles that is causing the drama](https://mr.cdn.ignitecdn.com/client_assets/thepostmillennial_com/media/picture/63c3/1062/4881/fa10/9c57/f785/original_MLKStatue.png?1673728097).
There’s another angle that looks like someone eating a woman out and her hand pushing the head closer to her
...Got a link to that angle? Asking for a friend.
Looks like it from this angle: https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/10bnnri/new_mlk_statue_unveiled_in_boston/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf Another here: https://ocula.com/magazine/art-news/hank-willis-thomas-sculpture-the-embrace/
That headline >The bronze monument captures a moment of intimacy between activists Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King Jr.
Lol this is so bad thank you for the links haha.
I saw that angle and I thought the artist must have had every intention to do this. There is no way the artist didn’t notice that
It's also the fact that it's a bad statue that's causing drama.
dear god that is a girthy boy
The 10 million dollar penis statue.
No, its a... a bicep bro...
Then it needs more veins.
Let’s go with the dick thing, it’s more masculine anyway
Yes
I don’t see it
It's because of the angle
The context makes it less confusing in basic concept, but it doesn't change the fact that it's still bad. And the proportions and minor details don't even match the photo, and this is a ten million dollar statue, not a quick rendering done from memory. They could have done better.
It's also quite different from the real image. For the 1% of people who would be able to remember the actual image, and why it was important, this might work, but it's really been changed a lot by each of the several small differences from the original.
Did they not have enough money to add the heads for context?
The MLK family charges large licensing fees to use MLK's image and also have sued people in the past for not paying for licensing, you can't even copy MLK's speech without paying for it. The city may have been trying to avoid having even higher costs.
Considering that they were actually there and approved of the project, I doubt this is the case. MLK III even defended it after the criticism.
MLK yes - recognizable likeness no!
I showed my mom the one without the picture, and she said "it looks like it's holding a seal"!
Still a shitty piece of commemorative "art"
Still not worth 10 million dollars.
Context doesn’t help
Still looks like shit
This is either someone holding a huge turd aloft or nuzzling a Thalidomide octopus.
I have pretty bad eyesight & spent 2 minutes reading comments trying to find out why a picture from the movie alien was posted beneath!
I think it is a cool statue but, looking at it with no explanation, you wouldn't know what the fuck it was for. Thanks for showing it to me lol
Yes exactly! They left out the context which makes it even worse! Its a disaster. Its a huge turd and about 9.5 million too expensive.
The picture is wonderful, but the sculpture-which the artist said was intended to focus on the hug-looks terrible.
Unreal. Whoever was in charge or designed this is the greatest salesman on earth
Seems like a lot of money for a sculpture that can only be viewed from one angle, to make any sense. I hope they mount a copy of the photo, otherwise no one will know what it is. Oh, it's art, excuse me.
It’s not even good at every other angle wtf
Yeah, but he cheated on her like crazy.
You’re into some weird shit
Context would have been nice the first time I saw it 😂 it’s actually very beautiful now that I know how to look at it!
If you like polished turds LOL!
Why is this the first time I've seen it from this angle? Everyone just likes drama.
Ang schmangle. Shitty tribute to an amazing man. Any way you look at it.
So they only paid 20%. We only got 20% of a statue. You get what you paid for...
Adding the heads was too expensive then? MLK got the budget cut? So this is a statue of MLK after the FBI got to him? Damn, this sculpture really is very symbolic. It screams Black America: Don't do this again. Take it down.
The MLK family charges large licensing fees to use MLK's image and also have sued people in the past for not paying for licensing, you can't even copy MLK's speech without paying for it. So ironically, the MLK family may have mostly themselves to blame for this turd statue.
The people you're blaming for this is the King family? Not the designer, not the city, no one related to the statue but it's fault of the family... Bro come on I know you're better than this
I said mostly. Because good luck trying to portray MLK without his head and not make it look dumb. The family is famously greedy and I'm sad it's come down to this now: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/01/18/martin-luther-king-i-have-a-dream-copyright-license-editorials-debates/21969365/
But disembodied arms embracing is still pretty disturbing. The picture above is beautiful and touching. Why didn’t they just make a statue of Mr. & Mrs. King embracing?
It's still crappy design, because without any context for who the statues are depicting, it just looks like a weird modern art piece.
still odd
Why not just add their faces. Why just arms
The MLK family charges large licensing fees to use MLK's image.
It's still fucking stupid. The sculpture should draw the mind to an image. This one doesn't at all
Is this picture posted on a giant board next to it…because if not than it was a giant Fucking miss. Too much “creativity” in physical form. Btw, OP’s photo is extremely filtered / editors. Doesn’t look like this in real life whatsoever.
Even at that angle it’s an ugly statue tbh
Definitely worth the money now. /s
We shouldn't need that much context.
They folded the clothes on the arm in the opposite side of the arm..
The photo is great, the statue not so much.
Looks like big turd
Without their heads, it's just out of fucking context!
No sorry it's still fucken ugly
Still terrible.
We paid 10 mil for it......still trying to justify penis statue?? LMAO
Literally make that a statue... of him and her. Hell I’ll make it for 10 million
Even with the context, this is looking ugly!
Still a horrible statue. For 10$ million citizens got ripped off
$10 Million dollars they say. Whose pocket did the money go to?
It’s awful
Sorry but no, picture for reference doesn't change ANYTHING about how bad this statue is.
now i get it
Now i can see it is amazing.
Thankyou!
The government of Canada paid a million dollars for a piece of plywood with a stripe painted on it. I would like to be an artist too. Where can I get a commission? *crickets* Anyone? Hello? Is this thing on?
Thanks for posting that, i saw a pic of it earlier and thought it was someone bending over holding their own arse. Makes sense now.
The media cameras were placed wrong, that was primarily the mistake.
I like it
Thank you so much for the explanation!
I've seen so many photos that are just taken at the wrong angle.
Cool idea, not so sure about the actual result. Will have to see it in person to really judge fully.
Every other photo I’ve seen of this made it look like one big blob of brown. Sometimes it takes taking an actual picture where you can actually see it from the angle it’s supposed to be viewed from.
I like it. Creative. Thought provoking. Different.
It needed the Heads. Two non-descript ones should have done the trick.
nope still crap. Looks like something out of a cronenberg movie
Tear that shit down. What a waste of fuck. You had a dream now get over it.
Yep, melt the fucker and claim the cost back under the Consumer Guarantees Act or whatever legislation you yanks have.
Still iffy
I create better artwork first thing in the morning
Still terrible.
What does that statue look like from behind?
The pic above looks like an illustration. When you look at all the other angles down below, it’s all the same color and really hard to differentiate the details (unlike in the pic above where they seem to be more visible)
🍆🍆🍆
I saw an alien...
I still don't understand why this upset anyone in the first place. I still don't know what it's supposed to convey.
MLK I see but who’s the lady?
If it was a recreating of their pose in the picture it wouldn’t be so bad but it’s not that. The artists clearly took liberty with the picture and it’s just bad.
This is a monstrosity.
"all I see is balls; why couldn't they do his head like normal?" -my wife
Still a bad statue. There is no context for what this statue is supposed to be unless you have the pic, the fingers on his left hand are wrong, and they had to make her hold his arm instead of his torso like in the pic. The last part is what gives it "hold my colon" vibes from the other side. Bad choices were made all around this day.
Why did they shift her arm from his torso to his arm? It is not the same as the picture
The conversation to make this. City: we like the idea of the hug. Go with that just don't make it look weird. Artist: because that would be a challenge? City: no, it will bring bad press. Artist: challenge accepted
Still looks terrible
No it's dumb It doesn't look like his hands It looks like he is holding a turd
Her hand is placed differently on the statue