Terrifying Lucille Ball Statue Enrages Comedy Legend’s Hometown
The artist who created the unflattering sculpture of Lucille Ball finally claimed full responsibility for his “unsettling” work. After initially insisting on a $10,000 bill to replace the bronze statue, sculptor Dave Poulin tendered to replace it for free.
According to Poulin, the statue dubbed as “Scary Lucy” was his “most unsettling sculpture.” He admitted that it didn’t do justice to both the iconic actress and to his skills as an artist.
“I take full responsibility for ‘Scary Lucy’, though by no means was that my intent or did I wish to disparage in any way the memories of the iconic Lucy image,” Poulin wrote in his letter addressed to The Hollywood Reporter.
The life-size sculpture was placed at a park in Ball’s hometown, Celoron, New York. Its creation was privately commissioned by a couple who hired an artist from Jamestown. In August 2009, the statue was installed in the Lucille Ball Memorial Park and has been frightening people ever since.
New York town bands together to destroy ‘hideous’ statue of Lucille Ball http://t.co/39n7OSIyC4 pic.twitter.com/iKyc7QDuwF
— National Post (@nationalpost) April 4, 2015
The statue poorly resembles the late actress. Although Poulin got her hairdo right, the face of his creation does not seem to bear any resemblance to Ball’s features. Many described Scary Lucy’s appearance as a “nightmare” and some even compared her to a “drunken zombie.”
Village officials tried to take action regarding Ball’s sculpture. They requested the artist to make revisions but Poulin demanded $10,000. Other eager sculptors offered to do the refurbishing for half the price but the officials refused. Celoron Mayor Scott Schrecengost asserted that the original sculptor should “stand behind” his creation and replace it for free.
The mayor also made it clear that no taxpayer funds will be spent for the replacement of Scary Lucy. This is why disgruntled village people opted to raise funds to pay for the statue’s makeover. Their efforts led to the creation of a Facebook page with the name “We Love Lucy! Get Rid of this Statue.”
The page contains pictures showing the sculpture’s face edited into scenes from I Love Lucy. There is also another image that pinpoints the Celoron statue as a mix of Ball and the infamous killer doll Chucky. The creator of the page remains anonymous but announced that he will go public to raise funds for a new statue. He proposed for a sculpture of Ball to be installed in Jamestown instead of Celoron.
[Image via YouTube, We Love Lucy! Get Rid of this Statue Facebook]
