The MLK sculpture

[SHRED]

A Chinese man sculpted it.

MLK has a distinctive oriental look to me.

Anyone else notice this?

Weird.

[Romulox]

1. The workers who assembled it here in the US were also imported from China.

They were reported paid "when they returned home." :wow:

[Kurska]

2. I don't see it. n/t

[XemaSab]

3. I see it

It's something in where the highest point of the eyes is relative to the angle of the cheekbones.

I don't know how to say it more clearly than that.

[Mimosa]

4. It looks like the Chinese 'tomb warriors'

Look here:




Imagine if an American artist had sculpted it using GA (where MLK was born) granite or marble.

[snot]

5. Ay-up:

"the first models of the MLK sculpture, unveiled in 2007, were criticized because some felt they made King look Asian." --http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2011/08/25/31085/chinese_sculptor_of_national_malls_martin_luther_king_monument_was_discovered_in_st_paul

"In an interview with the Washington Post, Angelou took aim at the inscription which reads “I was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness.” The inscription paraphrases King’s famous comments delivered at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church in 1968.

In February 1968, two months before he was killed, King said, “If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice, say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”

Angelou told the Washington Post Tuesday that the omission of “if” in the inscription changes the meaning of King’s words.

“The quote makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit,” Angelou told the Washington Post." --http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/08/maya-angelou-upset-over-mlk-memorial-inscription/

[Mimosa]

6. Oh, please, what does Maya Angelou know about art or MLK? ;)

:sarcasm:

just in case nobody gets it.

Back when I lived in NOLA, when the project was first talked about, JOHN SCOTT, an acquaintance who was a famous African-American artist, said he wished he could do the monument. I think he died shortly after Katrina, but the project had been talked about for 20 years.

hard to believe NO black artist could be found to sculpt Dr. King. :(

[aquart]

15. Hard to believe no American artist could be found.

[begin_within]

7. He's a terra cotta warrior!

[flamingdem]

8. No brainer! He looks like Buddha

really he does

[DianaForRussFeingold]

23. That was my first thought, too!

An albino version of Buddha..! It's too bad, it was such a great gesture. Sad!

[flamingdem]

24. I think it's okay. It's "stylized" and now will appeal to Asians!

It makes him more universal, somehow.

[Hissyspit]

9. Yes, it's pretty awful for quite a number of reasons.

The guy seems obviously trained and versed in the Chinese social realist tradition, which is inappropriate for King, and the stance is not representative of King at all. Pretty bad. But people demand representationalism in their memorials and so you are always going to have these problems. (For successful non-representational memorial, see Maya Lin Vietnam Veterans Memorial.)

[Mimosa]

10. ITA with all, including praise of Maya Lin's Vietnam memorial.

Hissyspit, I defended the Maya Lin Vietnam memorial. It was artistically successful and millions have found meaning and comfort from the subtle symbolism. :)

[Hissyspit]

13. And she was Chinese-American.

[aquart]

16. Yes. She was American.

We fucking outsourced our memorial statue of Martin Luther King, Jr.????? Have we gone insane?

[leveymg]

11. Was this a low-bid procurement? This couldn't have been chosen on artistic merit alone.

This stands outin a city of mediocre memorials as one of the most stilted and Stalinist.

[AngkorWot]

17. The artist was chosen on artistic merit alone.

By a panel of predominately African Americans.

[Mimosa]

12. Sculptor John Scott (died in 2007) had wanted to do a memorial for MLK

Read about John Scott here:

http://www.leh.org/john_scott_art/johnscott_front.html

He was a great artist and a kind man. He talked about doing a memorial for MLK for years.

[mahina]

14. It's really sad.

I think it is not a good sculpture, and I think it sucks that workers were imported to install and finish it.

Because I've already been through the wars on this, yes, I do have an art background, and no, I'm not going to fund my own sculpture. It's just a bad design. I'm delighted there is a statue, and sad that it is this one.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

18. I still think the design makes it look like someone froze him in carbonite

[lonestarnot]

19. folded arms, Maio se tongue look.

[AllenVanAllen]

20. It doesn't seem like a bad likeness but

I don't like the expression, it feels a bit forced. Technically, it lacks a bit of subtle roughness to the point it looks somewhat like a porcelain doll head. I really don't like anything about this sculpture/monument but the thing that bothers me the most is that he's not a full figure. If they had asked me to sculpt it, apart expenses I would have sculpted it for free.

[ellisonz]

21. It's an abomination.

The sculptor very clearly does not understand Martin beyond the superficial.

I've read it's based off a picture of Martin in an office. Martin was not about the office. He never scowled like that. He may have had pursed lips in some images but his eyes are always glaring straight forward in determination. It is not representational. I doubt you can find any other representation at all like this.

[elocs]

22. I don't like it: not the look or the authoritarian pose, the sterness.

The papers held in the right hand are too much like a club or a baton. Yes, I do see a hint of an oriental look as well which would be fine if that was how he really looked.

Evidently there were a lot of people who where in charge of this memorial who thought it was just great. I wonder how much public input about the memorial they asked for or were given before it was finally made.

There are those here at DU, though, who get all bent out of shape if you say you do not like the look and design of the memorial. This is not about Martin Luther King, the man or what he stood and fought for; it's simply about the memorial. Hard to understand how some DUers just don't get this.