Oh no, the statue of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) founder, M. G. Ramachandran at Thothukudi has been damaged. AND before you all go running for you atlases, Thothukudi is a city and a Municipal corporation in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu (whew). The broken statue was discovered by locals who immediately notified the authorities who blocked the road after tensions rose following the discovery. Why such tensions? Well M.G.Ramachandran was a famous actor and politician (ala Ronald Reagan) who after his successful acting/directing career became a vocal Tamil and Dravidian nationalist and prominent member of the DMK (Dravidian Progressive Federation). That was until he got shot in the neck by a fellow actor M.R. Radha. The bullet remained permanently lodged in his neck causing vocal damage. He later formed the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party after a disagreement with DMK. The AIADMK then become their strongest opponent. When Ramachandran died in 1984 of kidney failure it started a full on riot in Tamil Nadu. Mass hysteria led to looting and rioting with some 100 people attempting suicide by fire (ouch!) and that was prior to his funeral. The funeral left 29 people dead and 47 police badly injured. It was reported over a million people followed his remains and 30 committed suicide. In some parts of Tamil Nadu he is still revered as a god.
So you can kinda guess the dude that did this is in really, really, big trouble. The locals are demanding the immediate arrest of the culprit and I am guessing the Thoothukudites won’t be giving him/she/them a slap on the wrist and some community service. From all reports there are two pieces broken off the statue.
Addition Info : It was alleged that in July, 2008, DMK workers and anti-social elements had vandalised the statues of late DMK founder Annadurai and AIADMK leader late M G Ramachandran at Karaikudi.
A fiberglass sculpture of a mule has been “cow tipped” less than two days after it was placed along the Erie Canal in Brockport. The Mule which cost $1,600 was smashed to smithereens, leaving a community devastated.Lori Skogg the chairman of the Arts and Aesthetics Committee of the Walk! Bike! Action! Group in the village said “Everybody is sick about it. I mean, it didn’t even last two days.” A local artist has volunteered to try and piece it back together. This isn’t the first time the community has experienced “public art tipping” in 2006 a steel sculpture was toppled. Lets hope they catch the ass that did it.
It seems the poor old 7ft ant sculpture, which was installed in Market Square, Portsmouth, has been vandalized again. Police Sgt. Kuffer Kaltenborn noticed that the ant had white antennae as he went to get his Starbucks fix. Nathan Walker, the sculpture, was notified about the recent attack. I bet he was relieved it was only white pint, last time the ant was decapitated by Theodore “Teddy” Mottola. “Teddy” was fined $500 ,had to perform 25 hrs of community service and publish a letter of apology for his troubles.Watch out who ever did the latest act. If caught you are going to be charged with a Class A misdemeanor count of criminal mischief/vandalism. Don’t mess with no ants in Portsmouth.
What is a Brisbane council to do when a vandal goes and paints the vagina on a woman statue pink? Remove it quick. The poor old council was already under fire for having the controversial statue (which depicts a naked woman lying in a fetal position with her genitals exposed) erected in a park near Brisbane. Antone Bruinsma’s Birth of Venus, which was commissioned by the former Caboolture Shire, was deemed “offensive to women” by the new amalgamated one. So I guess they were rather pleased that someone went and dolloped the privates in bright pink. It wouldn’t be a council member now would it ?
Evidently attempts to clean the paint off failed. Pity the fool that got that job!So the council made an executive decision to remove the sculpture completely from the park, as they believe it will be a sitting duck for future graffiti artists and vandals. Hmm the artist’s respond to the council throwing naked pink lady into storage “I feel it’s insulting to women to remove a vulva because of somebody’s attitude.”
Bless those surveillance cameras. Two men and a woman were seen on tape kicking the hell out of a fiberglass horse outside the Roohan Realty building, in Saratoga Springs. In between taking breaks on a park bench, the three vandals took about 20 minutes to break the horse’s two rear legs. They were last seen taking off with one leg under their arm, presumingly as a souvenir. Oh dear, and this seems to be the third attempt at vandalizing that particular horse. In fact that is the reason why the camera was installed in the first place. Sadly the horse now has a severe rear tilt and has been taped off. What’s with so many fiberglass in this city ? It seems in 2002, four other fiberglass horses were damaged, with one ending up in the Schoharie Creek. Maybe the council should consider getting the nags bronzed !
Outcome : So far no luck finding the kicking culprits. But good news about the past damaged Horse statues. Three arrests = community service + jail time.
The statue of the lark trapped in barbed wire, which honors the Irish Hunger strikers, in Free Derry (Northern Ireland) has been damaged . The lark which sat on top of the H Block shaped structure near Free Derry Corner, was removed in the incident. The Irish tricolour, which is raised to commemorate the anniversary of hunger striker Kevin Lynch, was also taken. So far no one has been charged over the damage and theft.
The Old Garden State Park racetrack (New Jersey) won’t be getting their $500,000 bronze horse statue back. Ian MacDonald has been charged with cutting it off at its base and selling it to a salvage yard after police were given a tip off. How did he do that? One ton bronze horse wouldn’t have been the easiest thing in the world to move (lucky it didn’t fall on him!). What must really peeve the owners of the horse statue is Mr MacDonald got $4,000 for his efforts. Surely the owners of the Salvage Yard should have been charged. A guy walks into their yard with a big bronze horse under his arm. Dah its stolen!
That Cowparade ! The largest public art collection in the world is in the news again. Last time a group of militant Norwegians held one of the cows hostage because they believed the Cowparade was not about art but advertising. That poor cow ended up decapitated! So now I hear that an arsonist in Budapest has set fire to the warehouse in Budafok, which has been storing past and present cows. From all reports the Rubiks Cow was amongst the victims. Organizers believe “A hate-ridden person took the law into their own hands with the result that the cows have been destroyed”. The organizers are convinced it was a diliberate act of sabotage but they are confident that the show will go on, even it is delayed for a few weeks. The Cowparade raises money for charity by auctioning off the cows after they have been painted by local artists and celebrities.
The Budapest Cowparade hasn’t been without its fair share of controversy, two years ago the Melting Lollipop cow was ceremoniously moved and dumped outside the ‘House of the Liberals’ after a group were highly offended at its original location. Evidently the Melting Lollipop cow was displayed with its butt pointing in the direction of the Szent István’s Basilica.
Tut, tut, tut, Finnish tourist, you should have known better than damaging a heritage listed piece of public art. Marko Kulju, 26, is looking at a hefty prison sentence, after he was seen tearing off the earlobe off a Moai statue on Easter Island this week.
The island has 400 of these huge stone statues which gaze out over the south Pacific.
Unfortunately for Marko, a local was able to identify him as he took off with a chunk of earlobe, by the tattoo’s on his body (fool).
The 13ft Moai was carved from volcanic rock between 400-1000 years ago as a sign of respect for deceased ancestors. I am guessing the authorities are going to come down on Marko like a ton of bricks and so they should, the Moais were nominated to be one of the new seven wonders of the world.
Outcome : Marko escaped a prison sentence and has been fined $17,000 USD by authorities in Chile, and been told not to come anywhere near Chile for the next three years. Beats 7 years in jail I guess.
