David Bowie Statue Is Vandalized 48 Hours After Being Unveiled

A Bowie super fan offers a $7087 donation to the homeless 'if the perpetrator hands themselves into the local police.'

After its Sunday, March 25 debut in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire in England, a statue of David Bowie was defaced with graffiti. It was assumed that the graffiti appeared sometime between Monday night, March 26 and Tuesday morning, March 27. Although the doer's name was unknown, a CCTV camera captured the moment when the vandalism took place.

In the video, the culprit sprayed two "RIP DB" graffiti on the wall behind the statue, one graffiti on the left side and one on the right side. Another graffiti that read "Feed The Homeless First" was written on the ground in front of its base.

The work was created by Andrew Sinclair from the money raised through grants and crowd-funding appeal, which was set up by Music promoter David Stopps. From the grants and the appeal, it was obtained approximately $141,924.

Marillion lead singer Steve Hogarth, who unveiled the statue, was so sad hearing the vandalism. He said, "It's with a heavy heart and despair I hear that within 48 hours someone has defaced Andrew Sinclair's breathtaking David Bowie statue. a shame. Hopefully it can be cleaned up… [And] hopefully this fabulous work of art will give people a reason to come to Aylesbury for many years to come. It's worth the trip."

Several people, who volunteered to clean the graffiti, also gave their thoughts on the vandalism. Helen Light said, "Vandalising it is awful. Tax payers will now be paying for the clean-up so it is the vandal who will ironically be taking money away from the homeless." Meanwhile, Nigel Howlett stated, "This is stupid, and silly. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the vandalism is just pointless."

Stopps also commented on the issue, saying, "We can get that paint off, we will be working on it today. 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."

Responding to the explicit message on the graffiti, one of Bowie's fans Alex Laurent said, "If the perpetrator hands themselves into the local police, I'll donate ￡5000 [around $7055] to the homeless. Let's see if they have the conviction to be convicted!"

The fan, who lives in Spain and Thailand while operating over 100 David Bowie Tribute groups, added, "I am saddened and embarrassed by my fellow Brits actions, but except 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!"