Child destroys £10,000 Lego statue artist took THREE DAYS to build just one hour after the artwork went on public display
Frustrated artist Zhao, 22, worked without sleep in order to complete a replica of Disney character Nick Wilde
AN artist could only stand back in dismay as a child destroyed his £10,000 Lego statue barely an hour after the sculpture went on display.
The man, named by Chinese media as Mr Zhao, 22, had spent three days without sleeping to create an intricate replica of the Disney character Nick Wilde.
The wily fox is one of the starts of the studio’s latest release, Zootopia.
His painstakingly created statue went on display at an exhibition in Ningbo, in eastern China.
But just an hour after the exhibition opened, a destructive child managed to completely smash the artist’s creation.
The angry man posted before and after shots of his large sculpture on Chinese Social Media Weibo on 29 May.
The man known online as Mi zhi ALiu expressed his disappointment in the destruction of his sculpture.
He wrote: “An hour after the exhibition opened, a boy aged four to five pushed Nick and he fell to the ground and smashed into pieces.”
In his post, the upset man included pictures of how he constructed the statue.
He said that he had glued the bricks down with a light adhesive but it wouldn’t stand up to being pushed.
Related Stories
The statue, valued at 100,000 yuan or £10,000, was separated from visitors by ropes.
The artist added that there was a ‘do not touch’ sign next to the statue in the exhibition.
But children could still be photographed beside the creations, one by one.
The father of the child offered to pay for the damage but Zhao refused.
He said: “the child didn’t do it deliberately.”
The shocking post has been shared over 40,000 times and almost 20,000 people have commented.
One user under the alias nm shuo jie ai chi shi said: “I have made a very small LEGO model and it took me four hours. I felt so bad for you.”
Another user Verix said: “Your work was fantastic. I can't imagine the pain you must have experienced while seeing the scene.”
Some Weibo users criticised the child and their parents.
Fu zi zhi xi said: “If he were my child, I would have beaten him so hard.”
Zhao posted a second message on Weibo to the thousands of people who shared and interacted with his post.
He said: “I thank everybody's concern... I have known many LEGO lovers through this incident and I am moved. Nobody wants to see this happen. If the parents could draw a lesson from this and learn how to teach their child, then it's worth it.”
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368
