This terrible new Elon Musk statue is getting savaged online

Elon Musk might not be top of your list of people who ought to be immortalised in statue form, but it's happened now, and that's that. Or at least we think it's happened – a new bronze thing in Manhattan has supposedly been made in the Tesla frontman's image. But much to the internet's amusement, it doesn't actually look anything like him.

Commissioned by investing website public.com, the life-size sculpture can currently be found on 14th Street in New York, and was designed to commemorate Musk's 50th birthday. And like all great botched artworks, it's provoking no shortage of merriment online. Check out our art techniques guide if it's inspired you to, er, get creative.

Aside from the many Musk detractors inevitably calling for it to be killed with fire (or thrown into the river like Bristol's Edward Colston statue), plenty of Twitter users have pointed out that the sculpture doesn't actually look like Elon Musk. "This just looks like a smooth Ronald Reagan," one user comments, while another adds, "you sure that isn't Frank Sinatra in a T-shirt?" "The nicest thing I can say about this waste of bronze is that it looks nothing like Elon Musk," another user surmises.

Along with the life-size statue, which is now available to bid on via eBay if you so desire, public.com has also given away 100 14-inch bronze statues of Mr. Musk. It isn't yet clear who the (un)lucky 100 winners are.

Like this infamous wax museum and that terrible Spanish statue, bronze Elon is a shoo-in for our botched artwork hall of shame. If you fancy making your own virtual sculpture of Elon Musk (or indeed anyone else), here's how to 3D sculpt on an iPad.

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