{"id":129811,"date":"2025-09-08T22:45:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T22:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/129811\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T22:45:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T22:45:04","slug":"smith-upset-by-baha-mars-repainting-of-ringo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/129811\/","title":{"rendered":"Smith Upset by Baha Mar\u2019s repainting of \u2018Ringo\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Artist<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Artist Toby Smith (inset) and the recently repainted \u2018Ringo\u2019 the Flamingo statue. Photo: Dante Carrer\/Tribune Staff<\/p>\n

By PAVEL BAILEY<\/p>\n

Tribune Staff Reporter<\/p>\n

Pbailey@tribunemedia.net<\/p>\n

TOBY Smith, the sculptor behind the flamingo statue at the JFK roundabout, has accused Baha Mar of \u201cbastardising\u201d his work after the resort repainted the piece without his input and erased his signature.<\/p>\n

Mr Smith, who created Ringo the Flamingo in 2015 when he was commissioned by the resort, said he felt betrayed after learning he would not be included in the repainting despite offering since last November to carry out the restoration for free.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s disrespectful and I think it\u2019s disingenuous,\u201d he said yesterday. \u201cAnd I think coming from Baha Mar and in dealing with the director of their art programme, John Cox, who is also the chairman of the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, he should know better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only one who knows the mysteries and secrets of Ringo in its entirety is me. But for instance, Ringo has a heart that we crafted, and within the heart, it has a note. And on that note are words like love and compassion, and even Baha Mar. And it totally goes against the good vibes I was putting into sculpting Ringo that Baha Mar has now bastardised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Smith said he was inspired by the late Steve Burrows, the Bahamian artist behind iconic roundabout sculptures such as the rooster on Independence Drive and the conch shell on JFK Drive. He noted that he had previously assisted with restoring Mr Burrows\u2019 work, always in consultation with the original artist, and said he was pleased with the recent repainting of the rooster statue.<\/p>\n

In a YouTube video, Mr Smith lamented what he called the undermining of his work, adding that erasing his signature was deeply hurtful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a slap in the face to creative artists to sand off their work, including their signature,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only a slap in the face to me, but it\u2019s a slap in the face to those who are trying to make improvements in the country and being told by non-Bahamian ownership what is right for Bahamians and our visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Smith said he intends to raise his concerns with the Bahamas Art and Musicians Union.<\/p>\n

John Cox, executive director of arts and culture at Baha Mar, declined to comment when contacted.<\/p>\n

Despite his criticism, Mr Smith said he remains willing to restore the statue himself at no cost if Baha Mar were to approach him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artist Toby Smith (inset) and the recently repainted \u2018Ringo\u2019 the Flamingo statue. Photo: Dante Carrer\/Tribune Staff By PAVEL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-129811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}