A Longhorned Legend...

We continue our submissions from esteemed visitors this week with this mighty fine piece of Stand By Your Statue action. Thank you to Shana for sending in this great photo of her Mom stood by the mascot of the University of Texas – a longhorn bull!

I feel this could signal the start of quite a few Stand By Your Horned Animals being posted over the next few days……keep watching this space……

Aren't animals great :-)

Brooklyn Business...

Tonight’s pictures have been sent in by Sean Conrad, and originate from a day out at the Brooklyn Museum.



There seem to be a lot of people out there who take great pleasure in imitating the sculptures of Auguste Rodin, following in the footsteps of the Thinking Man last week. To begin with, we have Sean’s friend Lauren carrying out a bold and downright manly pose in the first Stand By Your Rodin moment of the evening.



Next up we have Sean’s friend Janine throwing some superlative facial expressions while imitating this Rodin masterpiece.



Finally, although technically this does not pass as a like-for-like Stand By Your Statue imitation, It would be rude not to publish this great shot of Sean’s head!

Lauren, Janine and Sean, thank you hugely for sharing your photos of your day out - we here at Stand By Your Statue salute you!

The Visitors Gallery...

In the UK when I was younger we had this great children’s art TV programme called Hartbeat, presented by the legendary artist Tony Hart, along with his trusty sidekick. In this programme, kids were asked to submit their own paintings to The Gallery each week, and viewers were then shown a selection of fine artwork from boys and girls aged anything from 1 to 15…

With this in mind, tonight it gives me great pleasure to share with you the first Stand By Your Statue visitor’s submission! So, Ditty Nicolaides, please, take a bow.

This fine Stand By Your Statue moment originates from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The ‘Met’ is one of the great art galleries of the world it has to be said. With much stretching involved this is one of the most athletic poses we’ve had so far!

Thank you all for sending me your photos. I am most humbled and very impressed that folks out there have been taking similar silly snaps, and shall be posting some over the remainder of this week. Please feel free to send me your pictures using the email address in my profile at the top right hand corner of this page.

The Riches of Barcelona...

If you ever are ever fortunate enough to visit the city of Barcelona then it is strongly recommended by the Stand By Your Statue fraternity. In summary, I *heart* Barcelona.

Scattered around the city you’ll find many examples of wonderful (nouveau) architecture of Antoni Gaudí, including the revered Sagrada Famila church. The city also houses much of the artwork of famous painters such as Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. The food and nightlife is also fantástico, making this one of the finer cities of the world, in my humble opinion.

Tonight we present a Stand By Your Statue photo of a small little boy stood in one of the parks in town – that’s my friend Rich!



Only joking.

Here Rich is stood next to a statue of a small little boy in one of the parks in town, in what is a great ‘hands in pockets’ imitation I hope you agree.

Man's Purpose in Life is to Serve...

I seem to have gotten off quite lightly in terms of Stand By Your Statue shots posted in recent times, so here is one of me alongside a happy waiter in Madrid (in case you were wondering, I'm the one on the left).

King of the Jungle...

Tonight I am going to take just a slight detour from our travels around Spain in the name of a wildlife adventure.



One of the first photos taken in the name of the Stand by Your Statue pursuit was this one, outside a statue of a lion at the Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Take note of four relatively grown up men (my housemate John, Mik Hill, Tim Freeman and SwissToni) stood in front of the statue giving it some growling action. Grrrrr!

Although not a true like for like imitation (as this would involve getting down on all fours and growling), this was the first of many snapshots taken in front of the king of the jungle.



This Stand By Your Lion picture was taken in Havana in Cuba, with just the three grown up men this time: housemate John and Mik happily resuming their growling pose from Copenhagen, alongside friend Justin.

It really is a most therapeutic process, and one which can be simplified in three main steps:

i) Find statue of lion
ii) Wave hands around in ‘fierce paw’ movements
iii) Growl loudly. Grrrrr!



I did say that we were taking just a slight detour tonight, as we now travel back to Spain, and to the beautiful city of Barcelona, where it is time for a grown up woman to practice the Stand By Your Lion boogie. Here my friend Helen Stanley perfects that lion growl, looking incredibly ferocious in the process. Grrrrr!

A Heavy Load...

I am a little saddened to report that all of my posts so far have focussed on the male sex practicing the art of statue imitation. Although in my experience, females generally seem just that little bit more sensible than us dumb blokes, that certainly does not dissuade them from practicing the silly artform of Standing By Your Statue!

So, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to Mrs Katie McClure, who is a good friend of mine (as well as better half of the most worthy Ultimate Olympian). In this picture, we have travelled to a province situated some distance off southern coast of Spain – to Tenerife – where, as you can see, Mrs Mac (not to be confused with the pies of the same name) precariously balances a heavy load upon her head. She has perfected the pose right down to the water that she carries in her left hand. Bravo!

As with yesterdays photo from Spain, I have no idea unfortunately as to who the statue actually is, so if any readers can shed more light then please get in touch. There seems to be a trend forming in that you do not actually have to be famous person to have a statue erected after you in Spain, or in a Spanish province, a trend which I heartily applaud!

Visitors Exhibition

This site has been up and running for just ten days now and already some readers have sent me their own Stand By Your Statue photos. I am most honoured and humbled that people are even bothering to read this blog, so to have people send in their photos is fantastic news, and gives me more tip top pictures to keep the site running for quite a while longer yet :-)

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I haven’t forgotten the photos that have been sent in and I shall be publishing them when the Stand By Your Statue blog holds a Visitors Exhibition in the not too distant future. In the meantime, I just wanted to give a hearty pat on the back to Ditty Nicolaides, Sean Conrad and David Wood and friends for sending me their pictures.

If anyone else out there has any Stand By Your Statue moments that they would like to share, then please feel free send me your photos via email address given in my profile, situated in the top right hand corner of the site.

Mysterious Man in Flat Cap...

Moving from the capital city of France to the capital of Spain, somewhere in the centre of the lively city of Madrid you’ll find this hidden gem of a statue – a man wearing a flat cap having a rest.

Unfortunately, that’s about all of the information I can share with you! If any readers have any further details as to his this mysterious man is then please contact me and I will be delighted to share...

I have quite a selection of Stand By Your Statue incidents from Spain, one of my favourite countries in the world so, until the next one, adiós hermanos y hermanas!

Statue Molesters

As a result of a posting on the Metafilter website today, another website for statue enthusiasts has been bought to my attention. So, pay a visit to Statue Molesters, which takes the pastime of statue imitation that little bit further!

It's a Thinking Man's Game...

This week we sail back across the Atlantic and look at some of the statues of Europe. Let us begin in France, namely Paris. In the delightful gardens of the Musée Rodin, in which you find works of the French artist Auguste Rodin, you’ll find the statue of Le Penseur, or ‘The Thinker’ to the English speakers of the world.

In this picture, it gives me great pleasure to introduce everyone to a new statue imitator, Mr Jamie Parish. Although he hasn’t quite truly mastered the imitation as he is wearing clothing, by virtue of the fact that he could have been looking at a short stint in a French jail as a result of Standing By Your Statue au naturel, I think it is more than reasonable to ignore this oversight! And besides, I don't think his wife-to-be at the time, who was taking the photo, would have been too impressed at such a dispaly of public nakedness.

I hope that everyone agrees that this is a highly commendable statue replication nevertheless.

Out of Duck...

One more photo from New York to share with you for the moment. Central Park really is the daddy when it comes to the great parks of the world, and you can very happily spend a day or two strolling around the many different areas of the park, totally oblivious to the fact that you’re actually stuck in the middle of a hectic city.

If you’re lucky, you’ll stumble upon the Hans Christian Anderson statue. Stand By Your Statue accomplice John bravely sat here for a whole two minutes waiting for an Ugly Duckling to waddle in to the picture at that opportune moment in order to nail the perfect imitation, but alas it wasn’t to be.

A Load of Old Bull...

Staying in the vibrant city that is New York, head downtown into the financial district, and then on to Wall Street, and you’ll be lucky enough to stumble upon this huge great charging bronze bull.

Rumour has it that if you rub its testicles then you will have good luck in the stock market, but at the time I wasn’t interested in that. Indeed, it was most difficult statue to stand by, as there were permanently ten tourists attempting to take a photo of the 7,000lb bullock. Never mind, in the end I just took the bull by the horns and got down and struck a pose.

Stand By Your Statue Of Liberty...

I feel at this early stage that it is important to introduce you to a fellow willing imitator and key statue brother, Mr John van de Poll, my housemate and fellow eager traveller for the last seven years or so...

Many posts over the coming months will feature photos of John, more often than not armed with props! As in this shot.

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most renowned statues in the world. A gift of international friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States, the torch she carries represents one of the most universal symbols of political freedom and democracy.

In this meticulous re-enactment, John provides a 21st century twist, whereby the torch he carries represents one of the most universal symbols of weak and fizzy beer.

Stand By Your What?

So, over the course of the last six years or so I have been travelling the world with friends imitating statues, as you do, and, in this blog, I shall be sharing these statue replications with you. I shall also attempt to add a few wise words on the places that I have been fortunate enough to visit.

Over the coming months, you shall gain an important insight to the statues of the world. I shall also be introducing you to a number of special guest Stand By Your Statue practitioners. Hopefully, as time goes on and I become more computer literate, I’ll be able to set up a voting system whereby you can vote for your favourite Stand By Your Statue moment.

Most importantly, I want to hear from you though. I would be delighted and hugely honoured to publish your photos of statue imitations from around the world. To contact me by email, simply click on my profile on the top right hand corner of the page.

Headless Wonders...

Fast forward around nine years and here I am with good friends John VDP and Mik in front of a headless statue of Lenin in Pärnu, a delightful little town on the south west coast of Estonia.

Pärnu is otherwise known as the summer capital of Estonia, although the locals dubbed it the ‘Estonian Las Vegas’, which was a bit of an enigma sadly. Other highlights of Pärnu included the Red Tower (or Punane Torn) and a spot of mudbathing.

As you can see, we were not particularly interested in the simple process of taking a photo of us standing by the statue. We are more interested in imitating or emulating said statue, which, as I’ll explain in my next post, is pretty much the Stand By Your Statue mantra.

An Early Dawning…

This is a photo taken of myself, John Adams, at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, back in 1990.

(Some of you will no doubt be surprised to see that, yes, there was a time in life when I had hair!)

Little did I know at the time that this would not be the first photo taken of me alongside a most famous person set in stone….