Hasta La Ideas

A crowdfunding campaign to bring a lightning-bolt statue in memory of David Bowie to London aims to raise just under £1,000,000 in 28 days.

The campaign, which launched on the Crowdfunder website yesterday, was organised by a group of south London designers who go by the name of This Ain’t Rock and Roll.

The proposed memorial is based on Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album cover, which was photographed by Brian Duffy and featured Bowie with a bold red lightning bolt painted onto his face.

It is this detail that the group has based its memorial on. It would take the form of a nine-metre-tall flash painted in blue and red.

“Recreating the iconic lightning flash from Duffy’s Aladdin Sane LP cover in gravity-defying red and blue-sprayed stainless steel, this is a monumental piece of public art,” said the campaign organisers.

The group worked with Bowie’s team in London and New York on the blue and red steel memorial. They hope it will be erected close to Bowie’s birthplace at Stansfield Road in Brixton, and next to a well-known Aladdin Sane mural.

The campaign aims to raise just under £990,000 in the next 28 days. It has already accumulated £30,730 at the time of writing.

“Just as an otherworldly David Bowie landed in our lives, the memorial (is it too soon to call it the ZiggyZag?) stands embedded in the Brixton pavement – a three-storey tall bolt from above,” said the group.

Born and raised in South London, Bowie studied art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963.

He was known for his alter egos – including the androgynous Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and Thin White Duke – and was the subject of a major retrospective at London’s V&A in 2013.

His death followed the release of his Blackstar album, which featured a cover designed to reflect the musician’s mortality by long-time graphic design collaborator Jonathan Barnbrook.

Earlier this year, The UK postal service announced it will commemorate Bowie with a set of postage stamps featuring images of six of his most iconic album covers.

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