This lifelike KC statue was also in Michael Jackson’s collection

Near the corner of Nichols Road and Central Street on the Plaza stands a whimsical bronze statue with a story—and a twin that once belonged to the King of Pop.

The artist behind “Monkey Business,” Mark Lundeen is a Colorado-based sculptor whose work appears across the country. From the iconic astronaut statue at Denver International Airport to a recently unveiled statue of President Trump and “The Eagle Has Landed” at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lundeen’s strikingly detailed bronze sculptures are instantly recognizable.

“Monkey Business”—which depicts an organ grinder and his monkey—was created in the late 1980s and was inspired by Lundeen’s European travels. “I came across a couple of old organ grinders in Italy—guys on the street that had their little monkeys that would go around and collect money and put it in their cups,” he says. The man in the sculpture was modeled after Lundeen’s friend and colleague, Joe Tarantino, “a short, stocky Italian guy,” Lundeen says.

Only 15 casts of “Monkey Business” were ever made in the late 1980s, and they sold quickly. One landed at the Country Club Plaza. While there’s no official record of who brought it here, it’s likely that J.C. Nichols heir Miller Nichols, who oversaw much of the Plaza’s art collection at the time, had a hand in it. Another “Monkey Business” cast ended up in Michael Jackson’s collection of lifelike statues at Neverland Ranch.

In his work, Lundeen molds each sculpture in an oil-based clay, then casts it in bronze using a process that dates back 5,000 years to ancient China. His commitment to the craft requires meticulous planning: Before starting “Monkey Business,” he visited the Denver Zoo to study capuchin monkeys up close. It was one of the first animals he ever sculpted. Since then, he’s gone on to create everything from a towering pronghorn antelope on the University of Nebraska–Kearney campus to a buck on John Deere’s campus in Illinois.

Lundeen is preparing to unveil a statue of former president Jimmy Carter for the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland, along with a tribute to a Korean War Medal of Honor recipient that will stand in the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka. And after more than four decades in the business, Lundeen says he’s never been busier. 

“I want people to look at my sculptures,” he says, “and I want my sculptures to look back at them like they’re ready to answer a question.” 

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