MLK Statue... Made in China.... Head Down, Hand to my Face......

[SadPanda]

Really? A 120 million project sculpted by a Chinese artist. Shipped from China. That doesn't even look like King. That has a misquote on its side soon to be replaced. I understand everyone was incredibly excited to get this memorial on the National Mall but come on.... China? Now everytime I read it or go to DC and see it I'm going to think about the complete disregard for planning.

http://belleville.patch.com/articles/poll-should-mlk-statue-have-been-made-in-america-ff81d7bd

[grasswire]

1. GAH!!!!! Who made that decision?

That is insulting and infuriating.

[limpyhobbler]

2. New MLK Monument: Did we keep the receipt?

Last edited Sat Jan 14, 2012, 01:55 PM - Edit history (1)

[Ecumenist]

3. REally??!! They couldn't find an american sculptor here in thew US??

[Quantess]

21. I vaguely remember an article addressing the question

and they featured some prominent black american sculptors in the article. A few they interviewed said they would have loved to have gotten the job, if they had known about it.

[MADem]

4. I thought he looked like Mao's baby brother. Now I know why!

It really is a HORRIBLE statue. Someone showed me one of the first views of it, before it hit the paper, and asked me where it was located--I said "North Korea? China?" Much hilarity ensued as a consequence.

I know I am not the easiest person to please, but I think they could have done a MUCH better job on that thing. It's fine to be artsy and different, but the sculpture should bear at least a passing resemblance to the guy being honored. Hell, Lincoln looks like Lincoln, and we had much better photography a century after Lincoln sat for some of his portraits.

And far be it from me to argue with Maya Angelou:

Celebrated poet Maya Angelou has gone so far as to say that even the inscription on the memorial makes him look like "an arrogant twit."

I also don't care much for the WW2 memorial--from a short distance, the architecture makes it look like the Nazis won the war.

[Quantess]

22. He is posturing like a Chinese general in the statue.

Pursed lips, tightly folded arms, looking petulant and grumpy. Not looking like the dynamic speaker he was.

[MADem]

26. +1 nt

[Fridays Child]

5. If he could comment...

...I wonder what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have to say about it.

[cyglet]

12. I think

he'd be astonished at what we've done to the working class, and this is an example of it.

[MADem]

27. "Doesn't look a damn thing like me" maybe? nt

[Confusious]

6. I guess it was one of those jobs americans didn't want to do

Either that or there weren't any Americans with enough experience and education to do the job.

Kind of ironic, don't you think, having a statue of a man who stood for freedom made in a country that is among the least free on earth? (We're getting there, don't you worry)

[JDPriestly]

7. It's horrible.

And the way his arms are crossed. Uggh!

Who commissioned it?

This is reprehensible.

Send it back to China. Let them keep it. Get a good American artist to create a statue that does right by Dr. King.

[Doremus]

8. Who was in charge of this mess?

They should be utterly ashamed.

[aquart]

10. They should be arrested for fraud.

[aquart]

9. That horrible statue WAS NOT MADE BY AN AMERICAN? Or in America?

Maybe replace it with a nice photo? one we can recognize?

[Joe Shlabotnik]

11. Whenever ANY new monument has been erected,

at any point in history, there have alway been people saying: its ugly, it's inappropriate, it's facing the wrong way, it does a disservice etc...but in this case, i think the nay-sayers have a lot of traction.

[David__77]

13. It's a good statue. It reflects MLK's true militancy.

MLK was a progressive and militant supporter of people's rights, opposed US aggression against Vietnam, and thoroughly criticized capitalism. Some feint-hearted people might not like those things, but they're true. Some people don't like the status because it's "confrontational." They'd turn MLK into some cartoon character or common liberal - he was not.

[provis99]

14. don't you mean Mao's true militancy?

Because that there is a statue of Chairman Mao, not MLK.

[David__77]

17. No, I do not.

And MLK is not the property of people in the US only. He belongs to the whole world. And he WAS militant, and it's for that reason that he was so powerful.

[csziggy]

15. I searched for pictures of MLK with his arms folded like that and could not find one

In nearly every photo of MLK his arms are open, gesturing. In a few, his hands are clasped as if in prayer. I found one image with his arms crossed, but they are over the back of what appears to be a pew.

To show a more militant Martin Luther King Jr. this image would be my pick:


But that is not the dominant image he showed to the world if the photos I found on the internet are to be believed.

[David__77]

18. I actually like that one.

But with mouth closed and without the microphone.

[countryjake]

19. Here is the photograph that inspired the monument...

Iconic image: The 1966 photo of a reflective Martin Luther King in his office that inspired the monument

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2049745/The-photograph-Martin-Luther-King-inspired-statue.html#ixzz1jPTU7RtH

[joshcryer]

23. They got it exactly, including the intensity. Good job Chinese sculptors.

I do think it would've been nicer if an African-American could've done it here, though, but I'm OK with the Chinese doing it.

[MADem]

25. I posted the "inspiration pic" elsewhere in this thread

However, he's relaxed, leaning back, arms crossed the OTHER way, with an open, contemplative expression on his face, before a picture of Ghandi.

The sculptor blew it, and I can't believe they couldn't find an American sculptor who might have better captured the man's essence.

[MADem]

24. "Feint hearted" suggests deception. I think you were going for "faint hearted."

The statue is not "confrontational." It's...what's the word? BAD.

Martin Luther King was not a short-armed, puffy-eyed, rigid, stout man. He didn't look a thing like that representation. It does not even begin to capture the man's essence.

It's just not good.

He looked like this:



There's no life or fire in that thing.

This is the photo that "inspired" the statue. MLK is neither "confrontational" or "militant" in this picture--indeed, he's contemplative and relaxed in the presence of a photo of the individual who was an inspiration to him. I think the sculptor of this piece needed more inspiration:



This is not an opinion out of far left field, either--many people feel this way. When the overarching impression is "stern" and "Stalinist" that's just not good:

http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2011/08/critics_pan_new_martin_luther.html

[jsmirman]

16. So much face palm

this makes me a SadPanda

[Quantess]

20. I was outraged about this back when they commissioned the artist.

A few people here on DU suggested "well Asians are a minority, too, same as MLK..." but not many DUers seemed to care.

I think it's shameful and a slap in the face to American artists. There are tons of great American sculptors, black ones too, if we want to get down to race.

Why wasn't there more outrage in the beginning?

[TigerToMany]

28. Ideally the monument of such an extraordinary man should have been made in America.

An African-American artist should have been chosen. At the very least they should have chosen an artist who was not only talented but had progressive values at heart so as to convey Dr. King's message of tolerance.

The thought that it was outsourced to China, a country which is known for its racism against minorities, and where it was probably built with slave labor is appalling.