...But Not Forgotten
The Pink Lady had a short, controversial life. In fact, the only reason Lynn Seemayer came forward as the artist was to spare her creation from destruction.Two days into her existence, the Pink Lady was deemed a traffic hazard. Immediately, the city began to try to destroy it. Spraying it with firehoses and rubbing her with paint thinner only seemed to make her shine brighter. It seemed miraculous. But it wasn't enough.
Despite the efforts of Seemayer and other supporters of the Lady, she was brought down on November 4th, 1966 with fourteen gallons of brown paint. For years afterward, her blotted image continued to tantilize the public, making her story into legend as locals told tourists and parents told children of her.
Seemayer herself, suffered a good deal from the debacle. She recieved marriage proposals and death threats; people wanted to touch her, to display her art, to get her autograph. One woman accused her of all rapes. Another thought she had painted her missing daughter. She lost her job and became very ill due to the stress. Though she eventually sued the city for invasion of privacy and destruction of her work (the suit was unsuccessful.) She claims she never really wanted money anyway, that she was compelled to make the image, that all she wanted "was to do something that was [her] own."
posted by kuaptic. @ 8:03 AM
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