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Published on: 1/18/2003
Last Visited: 1/14/2008
When Kelly Haney's "The Guardian" statue was selected to sit atop the new capitol dome I was suspicious.Not that his work isn't excellent.It's certainly nice work.But the competing statues were nice as well.Now I read that Senator Haney waived a $50,000 artist commission (out of the kindness of his heart I'm sure) and gave it to the state as a "gift from his family."
While giving the State of Oklahoma the authority to use the image of the sculpture any way it wants, Haney retained a copyright.Now Haney sells the statue on his website ( www.KellyHaney.com ) ranging in price from $10,000 to $150,000 for a 7 foot bronze replica.
His "gift" to the state is about the cheapest and most magnificent marketing plan in history.His "gift" was raised to the top of the dome arguably forever.It will be maintained by the State of Oklahoma and Haney gets to sell replicas for the rest of his life.And the sculpture was judged while he was a sitting State Senator.