Plans are moving ahead in the Australian town where Nick Cave was born to erect an "over life-size" bronze statue of the singer-songwriter in a loincloth on horseback, with the tribute described as "Louis XIV meets spiritual outlaw".
Guardian Australia says British sculptor Corin Johnson's statue in the Victorian town of Warracknabeal will feature Cave in the saddle with a flaming torch in his hand and his steed rearing up.
Johnson's relationship with Cave dates back to the 1990s when he first met him and his band the Bad Seeds in a London club. It is reported that former Bad Seeds manager Rayner Jesson first suggested the statue as a joke.
"We started talking about doing a statue of Nick on a horse, a bit Ned Kelly style," Johnson told Guardian Australia. "I think Nick was working on the screenplay for [2005 film] The Proposition at the time... So a bit of that vibe going on.
"The design changed a couple of times ... There was a lot of humour involved."
The website says the original plan was for the statue to be driven into Warracknabeal on the back of a truck without any fanfare, and left in the rural town "for the unsuspecting populace to discover".
But now Peter Loy, a Cave fan and member of Warracknabeal Arts Council, plans to launch a crowdfunding campaign for the statue with support from local government. It is estimated the statue will cost A$200,000 (€127,600), with the crowdfunding campaign due to begin in August.
Johnson has already given miniatures of the statue to Cave and they have been shown at the Melbourne Arts Centre. Cave has reportedly described the design as "a rather beautiful piece of homoerotic art".
"It's the first time the project has had the green light," Johnson enthused. "Everything seems to be right this time. We've been in touch with the local bronze foundry and they are confident that they can do the cast and there's quite a group of supporters of [the] project in Warracknabeal.
"I'm totally behind it too and am looking forward to sculpting [the] over life-size version. I have spoken to Nick about the current push and he's very happy about the whole scenario."
Loy said that while Warracknabeal has begun to promote the fact that Cave is its native son in recent years, there had been some resistance to the design of the statue. He added that fans would expect Johnson's vision, and not a more conventional statue.
"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."
