Florida Man Bombs Lenin Statue

Gao Brothers (Gao Qiang and Sao Zhen), Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin's Head, 2009

A Florida attorney attempted to destroy a 21-ft.-tall chrome sculpture of Vladimir Lenin's head. In the 2010s the artwork in question—the Gao Brothers' Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin's Head—was a familiar if puzzling sight on La Brea Ave. It was the public sculpture mascot of the so-called Ace Museum, which drew mysteriously few visitors and was later exposed as a tax-evasion scam. Miss Mao resurfaced in Austin, Texas, where its misadventures continue. Some red state viewers suspected the statue of being pro-communist. (The Gao Brothers are dissident artists and intended the sculpture as satire.) In Nov. 2022 Panama City, Fla., lawyer Christopher Rodriguez rented a car and drove to Austin to place two canisters of explosives next to the sculpture. He detonated them by shooting his rifle, seriously damaging the artwork. Earlier this month Rodriguez, in custody since Nov. 2023, pleaded guilty to the bombing.