Craig Fisher Studios

Richard Nixon Statue

Richard Nixon, no matter what your opinion of his politics, was an interesting man. And more importantly, he was an interesting man with an interesting face, which is what sculptors love. My first thought when approached about doing this was, "Who would want a statue of Richard Nixon?" Mostly, because he was such a polarizing figure. It turns out that the client did business in New Zealand and was a big fan of Nixon's policies opening up trade with China. That made more sense.  

I did a lot of research for this piece. I had folders full of photos from all angles. It was a luxury having so many photos. Normally I am asked to do portraits from very poor quality images, which makes things so much harder. I even watched videos of the Frost-Nixon interviews, which helped me understand him as a man, a very complex and troubled man. Let's just say it was enlightening and leave it at that.

All in all, I enjoyed sculpting him. I'll leave the judgements to history.