The head of the National Wax Museum has revealed that a new Sinead O’Connor likeness is in the works.
This comes after the recent likeness of the late Irish singer received huge criticism from the public, which led to the original waxwork being pulled by the museum.
Confirming this news last month, the museum promised to “create a more accurate representation” of O’Connor, who passed away last year.
The original waxwork received strong criticism from Sinead’s brother John, who called the original likeness “hideous”, comparing it to “something between a mannequin and something out of the Thunderbirds”.
National Museum “can do better”
Paddy Dunning who is the head of the museum, said that he met with the rest of the team, before deciding that they “can do better”.
A statement said that they “acknowledge that the current representation did not meet our high standards or the expectations of Sinead’s devoted fans”.
They also added: “We have listened closely to the reactions and agree that the figure does not fully capture Sinéad’s unique presence and essence as we intended”.
Original Sinead O’Connor Waxwork “not for viewing”
In an interview, Paddy Dunning had revealed that he has been inundated with queries from people who have been asking why the original waxwork has not been put on display.
“We get tourists asking to see it, every hour of every day, but we tell them it’s not for viewing”, Paddy Dunning said. “This has become our most famous waxwork since the National Wax Museum opened in 1983 — but we won’t ever put it on display again”.
Paddy Dunning has also confirmed that this new waxwork of Sinead O’Connor will also involve the O’Connor family.
“We will be asking four artists to make submissions, with the likeness everyone agrees on turned into our Sinead O’Connor. It’s very important we get this right after what’s happened”.
“superb”
He also added that artist PJ Heraghty, who created the original likeness, will not be involved.
“PJ is retired now so that wasn’t going to be an option. He has done some fantastic work for the National Wax Museum”, he explained. “The waxworks of John Paul II, and Liam Neeson in Star Wars, which PJ created for us are superb”.
Speaking recently, PJ Heraghty did admit that he was concerned about this project when he was hired to do the job.
“No I didn’t want to do Sinead O’Connor. That was the gut feeling I had and I wish I listened to it”, he said. “I just knew it was going to be problematic to capture somebody as beautiful as Sinead O’Connor”.
Heraghty had also claimed that he did not have much time to create this waxwork to meet a deadline of Sinead’s anniversary on July 26.
