An east London music studio’s installation of a life-sized statue of Micheal Jackson dangling a baby out of the window has generated wild and menacing fury from Jackson fans.
‘Madonna and Child’, by artist Maria von Kohler , was positioned by a window at The Premises Studio last week and has since generated such a backlash on Jackson fan sites that police have been enlisted to investigate death and arson threats.
One fan posted on a site that the sculpture was: “One of the biggest sins of mankind on an individual!” Another suggested that it was: "The most outrageous sick thing that could have ever gone on in the city of London.”
Von Kohler, who based her sculpture on the 2002 incident where Jackson was photographed waving his baby son, Prince Michael Joseph Jackson II or “Blanket”, over the fourth floor balcony in the Hotel Adlon, Berlin, was given to The Premises Studio free of charge.
The Swedish artist said: “I am pretty surprised at the overwhelming amount of negative reactions from the Michael Jackson fan base… The piece investigates the nature of the relationship between someone of unparalleled iconic status, the media and the public; the frenzy that subsequently ensued.”
