Nick Cave to be erected in gold for new hometown statue

After almost two decades of the idea being put forward, it appears that a proposed golden statue of iconic Australian musician Nick Cave will be erected in his Victorian hometown of Warracknabeal.

Guardian Australia reports the design of the statue has already been finalised by prolific UK sculptor Corin Johnson and features Cave on the back of a rearing horse, clad in a loincloth and carrying a flaming torch.

The project finally has the backing of local government with Warracknabeal Arts Council member Peter Loy set to launch a crowdfunding campaign in August to raise the proposed $200,000 it would take to construct the art piece.

Loy commented that the delay in approval for the statue was due to some pushback over the controversial nature of the design but true fans would not accept any altercations.

“There isn’t anything better than this,” Loy said.

“It’s bizarre, controversial, and expected by the fans. They expect to see that statue. You don’t drive from Melbourne to Sydney to see the statue they didn’t propose. You want to see the one that he proposed in 1995 and 1996.

It’s already got the thumbs up from the artist himself, with Cave commenting that he finds it, “a rather beautiful piece of homoerotic art.”

However, as Johnson recounts, the angle he was going for was “Louis 14th meets spiritual outlaw.”

“We started talking about doing a statue of Nick on a horse, a bit Ned Kelly style (but without the helmet),” he said.

“The design changed a couple of times … There was a lot of humour involved.”

Cave wouldn’t be the only Australian music royalty with his own bronze likeness with a statue in Fremantle, Western Australia depicting late AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott and plans proposed for a Michael Hutchenson statue in Sydney’s Darling Harbour.