The Breaking Bad Sculpture
Trevor Grove | Albuquerque Convention Center
Words and photo by Clarke Condé
It was a lovefest at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Friday for the unveiling of the Walter White and Jesse Pinkman statue and why not? Breaking Bad was transformative for Albuquerque. It changed the way we saw ourselves and the world saw us. It made the film industry in this town. People bought houses with the money they made working on the show. Locals flocked to be background actors so they could point themselves out to their friends on the TV. While there are critics of the statue, in a city where a guy got shot two years ago over a dispute about the kind of statues we should have here, things could be more controversial.
The sculpture itself (it is actually two separate statues intended to be displayed together, just to be clear) created by Trevor Grove is slightly larger than life, befitting for the role it will take on. Made of bronze, it is in sync with the array of other bronze statues scattered throughout downtown. However, the siting within the Convention Center is totally wrong, due primarily to the lighting, or lack thereof, and the ugly wall as a backdrop. Hopefully, it will be moved to somewhere better lit and more accessible.
One thing is clear, the sculpture is destined to become a pilgrimage point for fans and flood Instagram for years to come. Philadelphia will wish they had elevated their drug dealers instead of their punch-drunk boxers and cracked-up bells. Albuquerque will soldier on despite what the naysayers say about the sculpture promoting drug dealers or some other such thing, proud to be known as the city of Breaking Bad where methheads and shady lawyers roam. That is not by any means a complete picture of who we are in Albuquerque, but it is certainly part of it. At least the reputation is real, not just a made-up identity like Santa Fe's.
The only fear is that now that Better Call Saul is wrapping up and no other spinoff is on the horizon that the Breaking Bad universe will no longer be mirroring our image back to us. When that is no longer an ongoing part of our identity will Albuquerque know what it is? At least then we will have a sculpture in the Convention Center for reference.