The man who created the bust of Cristiano Ronaldo has defended the criticism he received for the piece.
The new bronze statue sits in the Aeroporto Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal, which was renamed from the Madeira International Airport in honour of the Real Madrid star this week.
It was unveiled yesterday, triggering a wave of insults on social media about the bizarre facial expression. Comparisons with people like former Irish international Niall Quinn and others, soon followed.
Things that look more like Ronaldo's statue than Ronaldo: the art attack head pic.twitter.com/Dl24nAFlLl
— Georgie (@shedreamsblog) March 30, 2017
BREAKING: We identify the sculptor behind THAT Ronaldo bust pic.twitter.com/A4rmuFjxzz
— Mallow News (@MallowNews) March 30, 2017
I honestly cannot get over how much Ronaldo's statue looks like Niall Quinn 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/C84G7CAWIi
— Sway (@Swayam_93) March 29, 2017
A local sculptor called Emanuel Santos spent three weeks crafting the piece and said that while the reaction wasn't entirely complimentary, he was content in the knowledge that Ronaldo respects the creation.
In an interview with Globo Sports, he said:
"It is impossible to please the Greeks and Trojans. Neither did Jesus please everyone. This is a matter of taste, not as simple as it seems. I have seen works by great artists that follow this parameter. What matters is the impact that this work generated.
"There is always the possibility of making a difference, I was prepared for all this. I used as base some photos of Cristiano Ronaldo that I searched on the internet, none specific. I put the photos next to me and started working on the bust.
"Cristiano saw the photos that his brother sent him. I was with the brother at Cristiano's museum in Madeira and from the messages he sent, I could tell that he liked what he saw. He only asked for some wrinkles that give him a certain expression in his face when he's about to laugh to be changed.
"He said it made him look older and asked for it to be thinned out a bit to make it smoother and more jovial. But they gave it the go-ahead - they liked what they saw."
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