It is shocking enough that a Chinese national, rather than an American, won the commission to sculpt the body of Martin Luther King. Even more outrageous that the model of the sculpture is fashioned in Changsha.
But look at it! An aggressive, unsympathetic posture -- arms crossed! Not representative of the inspirational Reverend leader, but of a Communist war-hero. What a horror!
A powerful federal arts commission is urging that the sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. proposed for a memorial on the Tidal Basin be reworked because it is too "confrontational" and reminiscent of political art in totalitarian states.
This commission should be taken away from the sculptor and awarded to someone who understands, in the American context, the value and meaning of the movement for equal rights and Martin Luther King's place in it.
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For more than eight months www.thegibsonreport.blogspot has pointed out some of the FATAL FLAWS with the proposed King Statue.
For one thing, the selection process killed any chance of having an inspiring granite monument of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the National Mall in Washington,DC. Unlike the competition for the overall design of a memorial for "the drum major" (900 applicants paid $95 to compete), there was no national competition for selecting an artist to create the Stone of Hope with Dr. King emerging from it. Why not!!!
Finally, there is some federal oversight. Kudos to the U. S. Commission on Fine Arts for stopping an historically inaccurate and inferior style from ending up on the National Mall. Dr. King deserves better. The silence from the Black media is curious. The past focus on the race or ethnicity of the sculptor successfully kept others so distracted that few noticed Dr. King was being made to look like a Communist leader.
There's going to be a public meeting at the Commission on June 19, 2008. Be there! The MLK Memorial Foundation doesn't get that more is needed than softening the face, as CEO Johnson has called for.
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May 12, 2008 5:38 PM
Posted on May 12, 2008 17:38