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PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 13 december 2019

Richmond gets a new soaring statue, this one with dreadlocks

By SARAH RANKIN from every other statue in
Associated Press this city — and there are
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A a lot of them,” Gov. Ralph
massive bronze sculpture Northam said. “And so to-
of a young black man day we say welcome to a
with dreadlocks astride a progressive and inclusive
muscular horse was per- Virginia.”
manently installed Tuesday Wiley said the statue
in Virginia’s capital city, wasn’t a tribute to any one
not far from one of the individual.
country’s most prominent Instead, he said, it is about
displays of Confederate “about black men and
monuments. their place in this society.
Thousands of people And in a much broader
crowded the lawn of the way, a society that can
Virginia Museum of Fine say yes to black men and
Arts as “Rumors of War” their place in this society.”
was unveiled. The piece, Mounted on a large stone
the first public sculpture by pedestal,
prominent artist Kehinde Wiley’s sculpture is just
Wiley and Wiley’s largest blocks from Monument
work to date, was previ- Avenue. It is prominently
ously on display in Times displayed along the city’s
Square. The statue titled Rumor’s of War by artist Kehinde Wiley gets fully unveiled after the tarp covering historic Arthur Ashe Bou-
“Rumors of War” was the statue got stuck for a while at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Va., Tuesday, levard, a thoroughfare
Wiley’s response to the Dec. 10, 2019. renamed in honor of the
Confederate monuments Associated Press black tennis great earlier
that pepper the U.S. and this year. It sits next to the
the South in particular. The the size of the crowd. The Stuart monument is Civil War-era garb, Wiley’s headquarters of the United
new monument arrived Wiley is known for his regal one of five giant Confed- equestrian is dressed in Daughters of the Confed-
amid an ongoing debate portraits of black Ameri- erate statues along Monu- streetwear: a hoodie, eracy.
across the country about cans, including one of ment Avenue, a presti- ripped jeans and sneakers, The silver, shimmery drape
what do with Confederate former President Barack gious residential street and with dreadlocks gathered that covered the statue
imagery and as Richmond Obama that’s displayed National Historic Landmark atop his head. got caught in the figure’s
grapples with how to tell its at the National Portrait district. Virginia’s governor hailed hair during Tuesday’s un-
history as both the capital Gallery. He said he was in- Both the Stuart statue and the twist on history as he veiling. Hundreds of people
of the Confederacy and a spired to create “Rumors of “Rumors of War” feature addressed the crowd Tues- stood for about 35 minutes
former hub of the interna- War” after seeing a mas- horses in virtually the same day. in cold, drizzling rain until a
tional slave trade. sive equestrian monument pose, with one front leg “People in Richmond will firefighter clambered up a
“It’s a story about America honoring Confederate lifted. recognize its shape and ladder and finally pulled
2.0,” the artist said, adding Gen. J.E.B. Stuart during a Both riders are turned to its form, but it depicts a the covering off, to a roar
he was overwhelmed by visit to Richmond in 2016. the side. But instead of person who looks different from the crowd. q

Kim Kardashian West sues doctor over ‘Vampire Facial’

By JAY REEVES beauty and lifestyle enter- jecting small amounts un-
Associated Press prises and millions of follow- der the skin using multiple,
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) ers on social media, asked small needles,
— Reality TV star and busi- a federal judge to bar Runels’ website says, and
nesswoman Kim Kardashi- Runels from using her name blood also is applied topi-
an West is suing an Ala- or photo and to make him cally on the skin.
bama doctor over claims and any other doctors who Runels, who said he de-
he wrongly used her im- benefited pay her profits. veloped the procedure
age to promote a medi- Runels, 59, said in a tele- and got a trademark for
cal procedure called a phone interview Wednes- the “Vampire” name, said
“Vampire Facial.” day that West wrongly about 2,300 physicians in
West filed suit Tuesday in used his trademarked 50 countries are licensed
Los Angeles against Dr. name for a medical pro- to perform the procedure.
Charles Runels of coastal cedure to promote herself. West underwent the pro-
Fairhope, He called the lawsuit “dis- cedure from an associat- In this Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, photo, actress Kim Kardashian
Alabama. The suit claims appointing.” ed doctor in Miami in 2013 waits for the Christian Dior pre-fall 2020 men’s fashion show to
Runels misused West’s im- “We’re trying to do good before posting a photo of start during Miami Art week, in Miami.
age in promotional ma- medicine. The last thing we herself online with blood Associated Press
terials after she posted a want to do is spend millions on her face, he said. didn’t ask the celebrity not going to let her call me
photo of herself on social of dollars arguing with a The lawsuit, which seeks for the social media post, a thief. First she works to let
media showing the results celebrity,” he said. an unspecified amount of which he said she used to everyone in the world know
of a “Vampire Facial.” The cosmetic procedure money, contends Runels draw more attention to she had a Vampire Facial
West, a reality TV star and involves drawing a pa- wrongly used her photo herself. and now she doesn’t want
successful businesswom- tient’s blood, spinning it in and name to promote his “I’ve already taken all the anyone to talk about it,”
an who has a number of a centrifuge and then in- business. Runels said he stuff off my website, but I’m Runels said.q