Voting Station

Donald Featherstone

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Artist

The Resume

    (January 25, 1936-June 22, 2015)
    Born in Worcester, Massachusetts
    Sculptor for Union Products
    Created the plastic pink flamingo lawn ornament (1957)

Why he might be annoying:

    The pink flamingo epitomizes lawn ornament kitsch.
    The connection between pink flamingos and dubious taste was no doubt furthered by 'filthiest person in the world' Divine planting a bunch of them outside her trailer in the John Waters film 'Pink Flamingos.'
    Pink flamingos are often banned by home owner associations that think they lower property values.
    He and his second wife almost always wore matching outfits (usually with a flamingo theme).
    He planted 57 flamingos in his front lawn to celebrate the year of their creation.
    He won an Ig-Nobel Prize in Art for the plastic flamingo (1996).

Why he might not be annoying:

    His plastic flamingo replaced an earlier model made of construction foam that tended to fall apart.
    The lawn flamingo enjoyed a major resurgence in popularity during the '80s, driven in part by Miami Vice.
    To distinguish their original lawn flamingos from other companies' knockoffs, Union Products embossed his signature on the ornaments: 'I’m getting my name pressed into the rump of every flamingo that goes out the door.'
    Despite sales in the millions, he never got any royalties for the lawn flamingo.
    He rose to the presidency of Union Products (1996-2000).
    A lawn flamingo in the Disney animated film 'Gnomeo & Juliet' was named after him.
    The city council of Madison, Wisconsin, voted to name the plastic flamingo the official city bird (2009).
    He said of the plastic flamingo, 'People say they're tacky, but all great art began as tacky.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 105 Votes: 54.29% Annoying