21C Museum Hotel’s signature red penguins welcome a new colorful companion this week. A 30-foot-tall replica of Michelangelo’s David statue will be installed on the sidewalk outside of 21C Museum Hotel on the corner of Main and Seventh streets tomorrow morning. The statue is titled “David (inspired by Michelangelo),” and it was created by Turkish artist Serkan Ozkaya. In addition to being twice as tall as the original, the statue is also painted gold.Ozkaya used a digital 3-D model to create the fiberglass replica, which he then painted gold. The original replica was made for the 9th International Istanbul Biennial in 2005, but suffered damage during the exhibition, so Ozkaya restored it and made two fiberglass casts, one of which 21C acquired in 2010. In March, the museum brought the statue from Istanbul to New York City, where the artist appeared a panel on replication in contemporary art before taking the statue on a tour around Manhattan. The piece then traveled to Louisville, awaiting installation. 21C has several pieces by Ozkaya in its collection, including a sculpture, “Baker’s Dozen,” and a site-specific installation, “A Sudden Gust of Wind.”
