Bronze statue will depict the Australian singer clad in a loincloth and riding a rearing horse

On a flat bit of ground in western Victoria, where the Borung and Henty highways cross near the Yarriambiack Creek, lies the small town of Warracknabeal, population 2,400.

Its claim to fame is the Wheatlands Warracknabeal Agricultural Machinery Museum, which is the centrepiece of an annual three-day Easter festival and a designated stop on the new Silo art trail.

But locals are hopeful that another attraction in the form of a larger-than-life-size bronze statue of musician Nick Cave, wearing a loincloth holding a flaming torch and mounted – military-style – on a rearing horse, could bring more visitors to the town.

Cave was born in Warracknabeal on 22 September 1957 and lived there as a young child before moving 380km east to the slightly bigger small town of Wangaratta.

The idea of mounting a statue dedicated to Cave in Warracknabeal has been kicked around since the mid 90s, when sculptor Corin Johnson bumped into the artist and the rest of his band, the Bad Seeds, in a London club.

The project was picked up by Peter Loy, a Nick Cave fan and member for the Warracknabeal Arts Council, who is planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the statue with the support of his arts council colleagues and the local Yarriambiack Shire Council.

Johnson said that the idea was first raised as a joke by former Bad Seeds manager Rayner Jesson.

“We started talking about doing a statue of Nick on a horse, a bit Ned Kelly style (but without the helmet),” he told Guardian Australia. “I think Nick was working on the screenplay for [2005 outback western] the Proposition at the time … so a bit of that vibe going on.

“The design changed a couple of times … There was a lot of humour involved.”

The final design, miniatures of which have already been given to Cave and displayed at the Melbourne Arts Centre, was “Louis 14th meets spiritual outlaw,” Johnson said.

Cave has reportedly described it as “a rather beautiful piece of homo erotic art.”

The idea for the Nick Cave statue was first raised as a joke by former Bad Seeds manager Rayner Jesson. Photograph: Kerry Brown

The original plan was to drive the statue into town on the back of a ute and dump it for the unsuspecting populace to discover, like a shining Trojan horse, but Loy’s involvement has made the process rather more official.

“It’s the first time the project has had the green light,” Johnson said. “Everything seems to be right this time. We’ve been in touch with the local bronze foundry and they are confident that they can do the cast and there’s quite a group of supporters of project in Warracknabeal.

“I’m totally behind it too and am looking forward to sculpting over life-size version. I have spoken to Nick about the current push and he’s very happy about the whole scenario.”

The statue is estimated to cost about $200,000. Any money left over from the crowdfunding campaign will be put into the proposed Cave Youth Arts Foundation, named for Cave’s parents Colin and Dawn.

Loy said that Warracknabeal had begun advertising its connection to Cave in recent years as a way to drive tourism, particularly in light of the “transformation” wrought by public art commissioned as part of the silos art trail.

He said the design had proved controversial and caused some delays in securing community support.

However he said true fans knew the story behind the statue and would expect the original, not a sanitised version.

“There isn’t anything better than this,” he told Guardian Australia. “It’s bizarre, controversial, and expected by the fans. They expect to see that statue. You don’t drive from Melbourne to Sydney to see the statue they didn’t propose. You want to see the one that he proposed in 1995 and 1996.

“But we’ve been around the whole thing. Should we, should we not.”

The crowdfunding campaign is expected to be launched in August.

Via