THE artist responsible for a controversial waxwork of Sinead O’Connor which sparked fury has revealed how he never wanted the job in the first place. This comes after Dublin Wax Museum’s owner admitted the controversial waxwork of Sinead failed to compare, telling us: “I knew it wasn’t right.” Paddy Dunning told The Irish Sun he had “no time to review” the likeness before it was revealed to the media on Thursday, — the day before the first anniversary of her death aged 56.
The Nothing Compares 2 U icon’s sculpture was panned and ridiculed by fans online — with Sinead’s brother John calling it “hideous” yesterday. He told Liveline: “I just didn’t think it looked like her at all. When I saw it yesterday I was shocked, I thought it looked like something between a mannequin and something out of the Thunderbirds.
” Wax Museum chief Paddy has now pulled the figure, which cost an astonishing €75,000. He yesterday told The Irish Sun: “Sinead was a personal friend of mine. "I knew it wasn’t right but I still had to go ahead with the launch because so many press and media were coming.
“My heart sunk a bit, we went ahead with the launch, I didn’t sleep last night. "I deeply regret it and I’m sending out my apologies. “I had to take the decision to cancel the statue and we’ll go again.
We’ll remodel but we’ll have to do better.” Artist PJ Heraghty has created more than 100 waxworks for the central Dublin museum. But Paddy admits this wasn’t his finest hour.
He said: “PJ has made some fantastic models for us. I know he could do better.” Online reaction to the Sinead waxwork include “She looks like a freaking alien”, “Is that a character from Thunderbirds?” But creator PJ — who has now retired — revealed he never wanted the job in the first place.
He told The Irish Sun: “No I didn’t want do Sinead O’Connor. That was the gut feeling I had when I was offered the job, and I wish I listened to it. “I just knew it was going to be problematic to capture somebody as beautiful as Sinead O’Connor and also somebody who so many people connected with.
” The Mayo man also revealed he had less time than normal to make the Sinead waxwork as it was needed for the first anniversary of the Mandinka singer’s passing. He explained: “I started at the beginning of the year, and there were also some health issues which intervened.” However, the clock was still ticking and PJ said the July 25 deadline meant he didn’t have the time required to achieve a perfect likeness.
He also said he was hampered by Sinead not being around to get involved in the process. PJ added: “There was a deadline , and I also experimented with different methods and that’s a dangerous thing to do as a sculptor.” The artist said that he was further hampered by Sinead not being around to get involved in the process.
PJ said: “Making a waxwork is all about having reference points, good pictures, and I simply didn’t have the right pictures for this job. "The last likeness I created was of Alan Amsby, Mr Pussy, he worked with me and was delighted with the results.” Aged 70 and about to retire after four decades at the Wax Museum where he won acclaim for his waxworks of Pope John Paul II and Hollywood star Liam Neeson , he conceded that he should have hung up his tools sooner.
PJ said: “You need to be in your full capacity and health to do these things. "I suppose as an artist you do your best work early on or mid-way through your career, you don’t do your best work at the end. "I guess like all political careers they end in disaster, if you don’t get off the stage in time.
” Meanwhile, museum chief Paddy has told us he doesn’t plan to melt down the Sinead waxwork. He said: “I think people will still want to see it, so we might keep it somewhere.”.
