Outtakes: How to get ahead in America
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Your support makes all the difference.Perhaps this isn't the best time to mention "president" and "head" in the same breath, but will there ever be a good time for it as long as Slick Willy and willing interns are rubbing, er, shoulders in the White House? Seventy-one-year-old Sculptor David Adickes has looked beyond the current difficulties at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to create a celebratory "Garden of the Presidents".
Adickes was inspired by Mount Rushmore. "I took time in the summer to see it. I was overwhelmed, but there was no feeling of intimacy. Nothing could rival Rushmore, but I wanted to create a place where people could feel they walked among the presidents."
The park, opening next summer in Williamsburg, Virginia, might be smaller than Rushmore, but at least you will get the whole lot, from Washington onwards. The giant busts are "to be placed among the trees in a winding random manner, but in chronological order, served by walkways and paths, beautified with flower beds, wooden fences, small fountains and other garden elements to make the whole experience as attractive as possible".
"It'll be like walking through Easter Island, but everyone has a beard or a monocle," Adickes prophesises.
Each bust will be mounted on a base, the interior of which, "interestingly tiled, with decorative elements", will contain a mini-museum dedicated to the off-white, polished-concrete president above it.
Adickes also plans to add new presidents as soon as they're appointed. So will he dare to feature Ms Lewinsky in the Clinton museum? "Maybe. That might be the reason he might do a short second term." In fact, Adickes already honours the infamous intern in his studio. "I've made a woman's head which I call 'Monica'. It sits away from Clinton. It's just a joke - my statue's far too thin to resemble the real thing."
Adickes admits that, "It's a really big project, but if the park's successful, I want to open four more in other tourist areas." Perhaps he could get on the phone to you-know-who - apparently, you can get some great land deals in Little Rock
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