‘Mooning Mona Lisa’ statue displayed in Bristol

The ‘Moona Lisa’, a life-size bronze statue of the Mona Lisa bearing her bottom, has gone on display at a Bristol museum

(PA)

A statue depicting the Mona Lisa bearing her bronze behind has gone on display in Bristol.

The ‘Moona Lisa’ is a life-size reimagining of street artist Nick Walker’s spray painting of the same name, which he produced in response to fellow Bristolian Banksy’s challenge that nothing more could be done with Leonardo da Vinci’s famous portrait.

The 260kg sculpture has been installed at M Shed in the city centre for its Vanguard: Bristol Street Art exhibition and will remain on display until 31 October.

To create the 3D piece, a 360 image of a live model dressed as the ‘Moona Lisa’ was constructed out of photographs taken by a rig of 160 DSLR cameras. From this image, a digital model was made which was used as a mould for the bronze sculpture.

The original painting of the ‘Moona Lisa’ is one of Mr Walker’s most iconic pieces and sold for £54,000 at London’s Bonhams auction house in 2008, according to Bloomberg.

The artist, who still resides in Bristol, became one of the biggest names in street art after emerging in the scene in the 1980s.

He is one of dozens of artists celebrated by M Shed’s exhibition, which the museums says “examines the creative response of the city’s pioneering underground scene throughout the UK’s turbulent social and political history”.

The museum is known for hosting controversial pieces.

In June, the statue of Edward Colston — toppled during the previous summer’s Black Lives Matter protests and dumped in Bristol Harbour — went on display in M Shed, damaged and covered in graffiti.