David Bowie statue vandalised less than 48 hours after being unveiled

Graffiti reads: 'Feed the homeless first'

Jack Shepherd
Tuesday 27 March 2018 12:56 BST
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David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust
David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust

Less than 48 hours after being unveiled and vandals have already defaced the UK’s first public statue of David Bowie.

Titled ‘Earthly Messenger’, the bronze sculpture was placed in Aylesbury’s Market Square, Buckinghamshire, where the legendary musician debuted the persona Ziggy Stardust.

“Feed the homeless first” was written with black spray paint at the foot of the statue, while “RIP DB” was plastered on the walls beside it.

The statue, a tribute to Bowie who died in January 2016 aged 69, was unveiled by Steve Hogarth, the lead singer of British rock band Marillion.

"It’s with a heavy heart and despair I hear that within 48 hours someone has defaced Andrew Sinclair's breathtaking David Bowie double-statue," Hogarth said.

"Hopefully this is just a glitch and this fabulous work of art will give people a reason to come to Aylesbury for many years to come."

The work was paid for by a £100,000 crowdfunding appeal set up by David Stopps, along with money raised through grants.

“We can get that paint off, we will be working on it today,” Stoops told the BBC.

“It is a public piece of art and we will keep looking after it on a daily basis. There is a webcam on it 24/7 so whoever did it, we have got them on webcam.”

Designed by Andrew Sinclair, the statue features various likenesses of Bowie, Ziggy Stardust being front-and-centre.

Bowie first performed as Stardust at the Friars venue in the early 1970s, debuting material from the 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

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