A "too provocative" mermaid statue has sparked outrage in the southern Italian town of Monopoli. According to The Guardian, the artwork is located in Piazza Rita Levi-Montalcini, a new square in the Puglia town named after a Nobel Prize-winning Italian scientist. It was built by students from Monopoli's Luigi Rosso art school and is located near a children's playground.
After photos of the artwork's installation were shared on social media, it became a target of mockery. Tiziana Schiavarelli, a Bari-based actor, posted on Facebook that a friend in Monopoli had " rightly expressed some perplexity about this 'monument'. It looks like a mermaid with two silicone breasts and, above all, a huge arse never seen before on a mermaid. At least not any I know".
Schiavarelli further added that she did not have an issue with the art students or the local council, which had commissioned the work. "But I am very amused by this thing ...who knows if it will become a further attraction for tourists," she said.
Meanwhile, Adolf Marciano, head of the Luigi Rosso art school, said the statue was a "tribute to the vast majority of curvy women". According to Sky News, Marciano also stated that the scale model was shown to the council, after which it was decided that the completed sculpture would be placed in the square.
He said that he did not want to cast any type of judgment on the student's inspiration, but according to him the work depicts a "representation of reality, in this case of the female body".
"You see advertisements on television with very thin models, but the mermaid is a tribute to the vast majority of curvy women, especially in our country." It would have been disastrous if we had represented an extremely thin woman," Marciano explained.
It is to be noted that the statue is yet to be unveiled officially.