Performance artist who has transformed his body
into that of a lizard is immortalized in wax by Ripley artists

ORLANDO, Fla. (Nov. 22, 2010) – Look out world, there are now two Lizardmans! Erik Sprague, the green scaly entertainer who goes by the name of The Lizardman, unveiled a stunningly realistic wax figure of himself during the Attractions Expo of the International Assn. of Amusement Parks & Attractions.

A large crowd gathered around the Ripley Entertainment Inc. booth here to watch the proceedings.  “It was an amazing moment when I first saw myself,” Sprague pointed out. “These guys really nailed it. It was pretty cool to unveil myself.”
The life size figure took four Ripley artists nearly 200 hours to create. “The most time consuming part of creating this figure was the painting of all those tiny green scales,” said Ripley Art Department chief Barry Anderson, who headed up the creation of the figure. “More than 60 hours were spent on painting of the scales alone, making sure the shading and the proportions were right on each one.”

The process started in late August when Sprague spent two days in the Ripley wax studios sitting for full body castings, a tedious and time-consuming process. “We have created hundreds of wax figures of celebrities through the years, but The Lizardman presented certain challenges that we had never faced before,” noted Anderson.

The Lizardman makes his living as a performance artist and is known for his extreme body modifications including a body full of green scale tattoos, sharpened and pointy teeth, forked tongue, piercings, and subdermal implants.  According to Sprague, the tattoos on his body have already taken more than 700 hours to craft, and while most of the scales have been outlined, the process of filling in all the color continues. He says his body-based performance art has been to explore what it means to be human and differentiate himself from other humans.

Sprague joked that he should get another statue for himself and give it to his wife to keep her company while he travels the world, noting that “I can now be in two places at the same time.” Ripley officials added tongue in cheek that they “can now just throw him in the trunk and take him everywhere.”

The prototype wax figure will be on display starting Nov. 22 at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditorium in Orlando, and the second, now in the works, is slated for Ripley’s Times Square Odditorium in New York City.

Click here for high resolution photos shown in this release.

Click here for high resolution downloadable photos and videos of the creation of the wax figure.

Contact:
Tim O’Brien
VP Communications
615-646-7465
Obrien@ripleys.com

About Ripley Entertainment

Ripley Entertainment Inc. (www.ripleys.com), keepers of the venerable Ripley’s Believe It or Not! brand, is a global leader in location-based entertainment, entertaining more than 13 million annually at its 85 attractions in 11 countries.  In addition to its 31 Believe It or Not! Odditoriums, the Orlando, Florida-based company has publishing, licensing and broadcast divisions, best-selling books and the popular syndicated cartoon strip, Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, that still runs daily in 42 countries. Ripley Entertainment is a Jim Pattison Company, the third-largest privately held company in Canada.

Posted by Wellons Communications, an Orlando public relations firm.