David Bowie Fan Offers Homeless Donation If Statue Vandal Owns Up
A former colleague of David Bowie has offered to donate $7,000 to a homeless charity if the person who vandalized the new Bowie statue owns up.
The sculpture was unveiled on March 25 in the English town of Aylesbury, where Bowie first performed Hunky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, after a successful crowdfunding campaign. Almost immediately it was the target of an overnight vandal raid, with the slogan “Feed the homeless first” scrawled near the base.
The BBC reported that volunteers had come forward to clean up the mess. “We can get that paint off," said David Stopps, who led the memorial campaign. "It is a public piece of art and we will keep looking after it on a daily basis.” Noting that the sculpture – entitled “Earthly Messenger” – includes an interactive camera, Stopps added, “whoever did it, we have got them on webcam.”
Later visual evidence confirmed his statement. You can see it below.
In response, former Bowie colleague Alex Laurent, who manages dozens of Bowie tribute bands across Europe and Thailand, announced he’d donate more than $7,000 if the vandal came forward. “Let’s see if they have the conviction to be convicted,” he said in a statement reported by the Bucks Herald. “I am saddened and embarrassed by my fellow Brit’s actions but accept this could happen easily elsewhere in the world.
"Having worked for David Bowie for many years, I can say that he was not a person that would encourage a statue, but he was fiercely British and loved his country. It was an ambitious project by David Stopps to site the statue outdoors. But I feel the statue should be moved inside in a museum type secure setting. Aylesbury, don’t mess up – the eyes of the world are upon you!"
Stopps followed up his statue campaign with a bid to have Aylesbury renamed “Aylesbowie” in the artist’s memory.