Fan Makes a Sculpture of Eminem’s Face

How big do you have to be to shut down Times Square? Though there have been major rap stars for the past thirty years, few felt as monstrously big as Eminem at his peak. By the time his third album, The Eminem Show, and the loosely autobiographical movie 8 Mile (and its accompanying soundtrack) came out in 2002, his appearances at TRL or 106 & Park routinely made New York City grind to a halt. The Detroit native's commercial appeal has proved so immutable that he's continued to enjoy staggering sales numbers in a severely deflated record industry. Now, his impact can be seen far beyond the worlds that hip-hop, or music as a whole, traditionally touch.

Aleksander Walijewski​, a 23-year-old graphic design student from Kielce, a city in central Poland, has made a clay bust of the famous rapper--and a video that documents the process. "I was inspired by him performing at concerts," says Walijewski. "And from the beginning I knew that this pose (that I presented in sculpture) would be perfect because it's dynamic and full of energy, just like him on stage. I also wanted to show the focus and tension on his face, it's like one of those moments when he looks at the crowd that is screaming his name." The gypsum-cast sculpture reportedly took 50 hours to finish; its creator hopes that the rapper will see it and will accept it as a gift.