By Tony Reid
A statue of All Black great Michael Jones has run into trouble, with the artists making it involved in a heated copyright dispute.
The statue captures the moment just before Jones scored the first try in the Rugby World Cup.
Sculptor Richard Wells says eh has been cheated out of money and the co-authorship he deserves for the statue – a one-and-a-half time life size statue of Michael Jones.
“I’ve changed it form something that looked like a robot to something which is actually flying through the air,” he says.
The idea to immortalise Jones in bronze came from Natalie Stamilla, daughter of photographer Geoff Dale who took the original image.
She says she hired Mr Wells to do the grunt work and that his artistic input was minimal.
“Artistically, very, very little,” she says. “It was me and my dad… that was it really.”
The dispute hinges around two images and two very different accounts of how the statue was transformed into what it is.
“It’s a testament to my ability as a sculptor, as an artist, I’ve been sculpting all my life and I’ve never done a bronze but that’s the next step,” says Ms Stamilla.
But Mr Wells disagrees.
“There was no way they could work it out,” he says. “If you don’t have a history and a body of work that leads to something like this, there’s no credibility to it.”
The Jones statue will reside at Eden Park, just up the road from a tribute to Dave Gallagher.
Mr Wells has been dropped from the project altogether, but is not giving up.
“I want recognition of my artistic input as they’ve always promised,” he says.
“It’s somebody doing a spellcheck – that’s how much he did,” says Ms Stamilla.
So what was an iconic moment has now been spoiled by two artists who refuse to agree.
3 News