'Simply the Worst!' Tina Turner Fans Blast New Statue Erected to Honor Late Singer

Wow

He should have made a wall clock instead…

Yikes R1. What’s representational realism got to do, got to do with it?

Reminds me of "Scary Lucy," that horrifying statue of Lucille Ball.

The "Scary Lucy" sculptor is at it again.

There are no more Michelangelos among modern “artists”, are there?

That face is an abomination. It looks nothing like Tina and looks like it’s out of a 1940s Looney Tubes that’s now banned.

Who the fuck is vetting these pieces?

R1 Yikes! She looks like she has Down syndrome there.

I’ve got to go over to Brownsville and see this.

Hideous. Poor Tina deserves so much better than this.

Simply a Mess.

Jesus Christ! This is really offensive.

R11, there are no words for jobs much I love you.

R13, “jobs” = how.

Ashamed Mary keeps on turning

Ugh

Why is this version of Tina a mongoloid?

WHO keeps giving that ghastly fucking artist money for his joke sculpture ???

R17- I said it is hideous and it is, but this is also extremely insulting, imo.

Turns out, we DO need another hero.

It's not as good as you'd hope for, but I don't think it's bad. Certainly better than the poor Lucy statue.

That's not saying much. The Lucy statue is atrocious.

[quote]Certainly better than the poor Lucy statue.

It is ?

They should have hired the artist who did the MTM statue in Minneapolis, or the Liz Montgomery statue in Salem, MA. I haven't heard many complaints about those two.

This kind of public art (capturing a famous person) is really tacky and dreadful, more often than not.

See: Scary Lucy, Palm Springs Marilyn statue, etc.

Even Ike wouldn’t take a baseball bat to that.

I looked up the artist -he has done other good stuff but on a smaller scale.

He fucked up - the face probably looks ok from above looking down on it from a ladder - but looking up, it's a fucking mess. And the hair too.

Personally, I don't love single statues. I'd rather see a huge painting or a large mural.

The heck?

They should have given her hair the spiky look she liked.

Did Meryl’s ex-husband sculpt this?

From the neck down it’s really pretty decent. The face is unfortunate and the hair, abominable.

R15 Proud Tina forever be a burnin’ 🔥

I’m a public sculpture

Sculpted for money

Any old face will do

Public sculpture, sculptured for money

Thank God there’s only a few

The hair could be its own statue.

No one on 'The View' liked this (they talked about it in Hot Topics) except for Sunny Hostin. She thought the hair and facial expression caught Turner's 'energy' . She then said that art is supposed to get 'different reactions' from people, and mentioned she is the mother of an artist - her daughter Paloma. I'm guessing that means Paloma has no talent and people tell her that.

Is it too late to destroy it and have a better artist do another one?

R35 No - they replaced the Lucy statue. It didn't happen too quickly, but it eventually happened. I'm sure this statue (like the 'scary Lucy' statue) was contracted to stay out in public view for 'x' amount of time before it could be removed or replaced. I think Lucy's stayed on display for two years.

r30 Agreed but for the legs. She had the best legs in show business. The legs on that statue - if one can call it a statue - are every bit as wrong as that sculpture from the neck up.

more like the ‘feral kid’ from the original Mad Max

I think the statue's body and how it is arranged is a good representation of Tina. Can we acknowledge that much?

The art of public sculpture is dead, and that goes double for portrait sculpture.

Reminds me of the time I contributed to a fund for a statue of Victoria Wood in her home town of Bury, UK, and the result was so freaking hideous I couldn't believe anyone approved it.

Time to let AI create these portraits. It couldn't possibly do worse, even if it added extra fingers, noses, etc.

I know DL can lean towards the negative on on most things but if we all dislike this, then how, who, why did this not get stopped b4 its final version, placement and reveal?????? Its like no one has the balls to say the emperor has no clothes.

Cold, dark metal is never going to completely capture the appearance of a living human being's face.

I think the sculptor came fairly close to Victoria Wood's facial features, R41 .

"...and then came the MONGOLOID...."

Well, it turned out better than this.

Seriously, I really don't know why they do these statues...they are rarely (if ever) even CLOSE to up to snuff and no one likes them.

That said, the body came out good and he captured the essence of her legs and being a powerhouse of a woman. I think he let the hair become the focal point and it was just too much. It looks like he sculputed an overblown, oversized wig on top of the head. And the face is definitely...unfortunate.

The body is not good. The arms are not proportional. One tit is much larger than the other.

We're going to spray paint our opinion tonight.

These "life-like" statues are literally always horrible! Why do they bother? Lucy, Princess Diana and now Tina?!

To be fair, at the height of her fame, the wig she wore was twice as high as the length of her face. It suited Tina's personality and the evident joy she expressed during her performances. I sympathize with the sculptor trying to replicate it.

R49- I’m still waiting for the Vivian Vance statue.

Couldn't they get the sculptor who did the Trump / Epstein statue which was erected last week on the National mall ? That was really good - the likeness was uncanny in their facial features.

Its way past time to put racial pandering aside when it comes to creatives . That statue is ghastly,his other work is equally ghastly,yet because of his color he keeps getting jobs and praise when he deserves neither.

Maybe they don't want to or can't pay the price for a statue created by one of the better sculptors. Maybe this artist was more in their price range and they got what they paid for.

They should have hired the sculptor who did that Boston monstrosity of MLK and Coretta Scott King a couple of years ago - the one which looks like Coretta has her head up MLK's ass (or is it visa versa ?). He could have done Ike and Tina the same way.

This statue of Tina Turner is in Durres, Albania, near statues of John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and Mick Jagger.

R56 WOW! That's so much better. Was it done while she was still alive ?

There's been talk of erecting a Donna Summer statue in Boston / Roxbury in her honor. Please - if it goes through - let it be an honor to Summer and not a punishment to fans.

Yes, R57 , but according to one article, Tina never visited it in person. Maybe she saw images of it.

This is a large outdoor sculpture of Tina Turner's head at Dreamland Margate amusement park in Kent, England.

English sculptor Carol Brody made this 28" sculpture of Tina Turner.

R60 That is damn scary. Looks like one of those amusement park rides where the cart you're in rolls right into her mouth.

R60 if one considers a balloon a "sculpture".

r61 has shades of Fusili Jerry.

It's Tagliatelle Tina.

Oh, and Macaroni Midler!

R63 The website page describes it as a giant inflatable sculpture by artists Cool Shit (really).

If you think that's bad wait till you see the macaroni art commissioned by the Nutbush City Limits Parks Committee.

Enjoy the Nutbush Ice Cream Sundae at the snatch bar.

We Don't Need Another Statute!

It also reminds me of that terrifying airport bust of Christiano "Crispy" Ronaldo (but the story of the guy who created it was so sweet that after reading it I got misty-eyed and kind of loved the bust) (also, to give Christiano his due, he was very gracious at the unveiling and did not throw a stroppy fit the way I might have had I been in his position)

The sculptor of Tina's hideous statue is of Nigerian background. Those commissioning the statue must have decided they ought to have a black sculptor, and I don't necessarily disagree. I looked at photos of some of his previous work and, as a previous poster noted, some of it is very nice. But this particular piece is an abomination.

I don't really wanna look no more.

It's Billy Porter.

What's Artistry Got to Do with It?

What? Don't they look similar, R70 ?

they got most of Ronaldo correct...just the eyes are way too close. His smile and smile lines, lower face, all look pretty close.

I can understand why they wanted to hire a black sculptor. So why didn't they hire Alonzo Clemons?

Toothy smiles are not well rendered in bronze. These statues of Lucy, Rinaldo and now Tina all look like horrendous grotesques with those gear box smiles distorting their faces.

First the Exhausted Times Square heifer. Now this.

“When making this statue, I tried to capture three things: her flexibility and her movement — then on her hair, I wanted it to be like a mane of a lion, to represent her strength as a woman,” Mr. Ajanogha said in a statement. “Lastly, her hand holding the microphone — there is one finger held up. I used that to represent that there is only one Tina Turner.”

Mayor William D. Rawls Jr. of Brownsville and others involved in commissioning the statue chose to look for the positives in the online frenzy.

“The way Tina’s fans are reacting really tells you something,” the mayor said. “All this passion, whether they love the sculpture or have some critiques, isn’t just about the art. It shows how incredibly special she is to them and to music history.”

Ford Motor, which helped pay for the statue, said in a statement, “The passion of supporters and critics highlights the deep connection she built, from Brownsville to the world.”

[quote]Ford Motor, which helped pay for the statue, said in a statement

We’re so happy we found a way to recycle hubcaps.