Man Arrested For Stealing Horse Statue

A horse statue at the former Garden State Park racetrack in New Jersey went missing last week. Police have now arrested one man and are looking for three others; nobody is sure how, exactly, four dudes were able to steal a one-ton horse.

The Courier-Post reports “[p]art of the horse was recovered in Pennsauken,” but most of the bronze statue was sold for scrap in Camden. (And turned into glue, etc., etc.) The man arrested had four outstanding warrants in four different New Jersey communities. Highly impressive, but nowhere near a record. The theft of the statue, though, totally deserves a round of applause just for the difficulty factor.

Man held in horse statue theft [Courier-Post]

Lenin Statue In AC Upsets One Dude

Back in 2005, the restaurant Red Square opened at the Tropicana in Atlantic City — and up went a statue of Lenin, complete with a martini glass (at right, obviously). And since then one man with way too much time on his hands has been complaining to everyone he can see about the statue.

He claimed having a 15-foot tall statue of one of history’s most brutal dictators is an insult to thousands of soldiers who died fighting communism. He went on talk radio shows claiming the statue is anti-American, wrote letters and attended Boardwalk parades, urging Tropicana officials to take down the statue.

Now he’s claiming the statue is simply “bad luck” and should be taken down lest Atlantic City be smitten by God, who is apparently anti-communism. Wah, wah, a statue of Lenin with a martini in Atlantic City, I must protest! Geeze, what sore winners capitalists are.

Now, the statue of the murderous dictator Julius Caesar? There’s a statue worth protesting against.

Man wants to topple Atlantic City casino’s Lenin statue [AP/NJ.com]
[Thumbnail from Annika Lux]

Why Is There No Barkley Statue?

I actually spotted this ad for the first time last night; it’s the new Dwayne Wade/Charles Barkley T-Mobile ad. While the series has produced some of the more entertaining on TV recently — they’re no Spy Hunter Pontiac ad, however — this one is so far the best.

And we totally need to build a statue of Sir Charles riding a horse, eating a cheesesteak. We can put it right in front of Pat’s. Or, hell, maybe Chink’s!

Yo, Adriatic!

Earlier this year, the town of Zitiste, Serbia, erected a statue of Rocky Balboa and flanked it with giant chickens in order to show the town’s hard-working spirit.

Well, move over, Sly, because more fictional characters are coming to Eastern Europe! The New York Times reports today towns in Serbia have erected or are planning on erecting statues of Tarzan, Bruce Lee and topless model Samantha Fox. (One would only imagine the reporter was simply fooled — “Ha! We made that guy from the Times think we’re building a statue to Samantha Fox!” they’d say, in Serbian or whatever — on that last one, but he writes: “Officials boasted that the statue would be larger than Rocky, but so far the only sign of Ms. Fox’s likeness is an empty pedestal in a local art gallery, with the word ‘rumors’ written on it.”)

The statues are uplifting to some, but Serbian visual artist Milica Tomic called the statues “a dangerous joke in which history is being erased and replaced by Mickey Mouse.” (Note to Tomic: You’re supposed to use Donald Duck for these analogies.)

“This turning to Rocky or Tarzan is unhealthy and dangerous,” she said. “We need to find a way of representing our grief, our responsibility and our despair. Until we do that, Serbia cannot come to terms with the present and the future.”

Samantha Fox, though, now that’s inspiration.

Shocker: ‘Rocky’ Statue Returns To Art Museum

Oh, did I write shocker? I meant, uh, the opposite.

Yes, the Art Commission (whatever that is) voted 6-2 to allow Rocky to return to the Art Museum, although only along the side of the steps. The newspapers have their “split decision” and “Rocky wins!” headlines all ready, of course.

The yeas and nays, courtesy KYW:

Local artist Moe Brooker was among the two ‘no’ votes: “I don’t think it’s art. I think it’s a statue. And I think that it served its purpose when it was at the Spectrum.”

The other ‘no’ vote was from commissioner Miguel-Angel Corzo: “The statue belongs in the city. But it doesn’t belong in that place.”

Of course, John Street was in favor of the move to the Art Museum, so perhaps it should be somewhere else.

That means we’re all set for “hundreds of thousands” of fans to line the Parkway on Friday, hoping to catch a glimpse of Stallone and debating whether it’s art or statue. Oh, boy.

Rocky Wins in a Split Decision [KYW 1060]

Not So Vanillanova

When I was in college, the only thing the students felt about the public art at the school was that it was almost always hideous looking. I assume that’s probably true at most schools, excluding (or possibly especially) art schools, but Villanova happens to be striking some controversy with its new piece of art.

An article in today’s Daily News details a pro-life monument that’s going to be erected at Villanova. Sadly, it’s not the Britney-giving-birth one on display in New York, but a different one.

I understand it’s going to upset some kids, and that makes sense, but Villanova is a Catholic University, and if they want to put up a pro-life/anti-abortion (just pick the term you like, k?) monument they certainly have the right. They also have the right to put up an anti-birth control monument, an anti-fornication monument or a statue of basketball coach Jay Wright.

(In case you’re wondering, I picture the anti-fornication monument to be a man and woman dancing, with only their hands touching and a giant sign above it saying “Leave room for the Holy Spirit!” Possibly there would be a priest in the background, and he could be saying it in a big word bubble. I’d leave that up to the artist.)

What I kind of find most interesting is where they’re going to put the statue:

The piece is set to be erected near a walkway that freshman dorm residents take to get on the main campus, resulting in heavy foot traffic.

The path, because it is shrouded by trees and dark at night, has come to be known by students, staff and faculty as the “Rape Trail” although there’s never been a reported rape in the area.

And, really, what better place for a pro-life monument than the Rape Trail? Erhm.

Controversy over anti-abortion statue [DN]
Britney and Child as You’ve Never Seen Them Before [Gawker]