Controversial art that replaced a dying soldier with a beer bottle to be pulled by B.C. brewery

Vancouver -

A B.C. brewery is changing a controversial label after hundreds signed a petition saying it was "a disrespectful distortion" of a war memorial.

Keeping watch over Vancouver’s Gastown is the statue of an angel holding a fallen soldier ascending to heaven.

The Angel of Victory was commissioned after the First World War as a memorial.

Products sold by Steamworks Brewing Co. feature an artistic adaption of the statue, with the dying soldier replaced by a beer bottle.

When the image caught the attention of Ian Harrison, the Vancouver resident launched an online petition on the website Change.org demanding it be removed. As of Wednesday morning, about 550 people had signed the petition. 

“I think it’s disrespectful and distasteful,” Harrison said. “I think if most Canadians were aware that this was being used, they would feel the same way as I would.”

Ottawa native Steven Hepburn learned about the controversial artwork while visiting Vancouver. He sent a letter Vancouver’s mayor and council urging them to intervene.

“Replacing the image of a soldier who has taken his last breath and is being carried into heaven by an angel with a beer bottle sends the wrong message,” Hepburn said. “We should all care. Canadians should remember everyday the sacrifices that the men and women who fought for Canada made.”

In a statement to CTV News, Steamworks confirmed it will replace the Angel of Victory depiction.

“The art in question took its inspiration from the statue and sympathetically adapted elements of it,” wrote Steamworks marketing co-ordinator Elise Palmer.

“While we feel it respectfully repurposes local art, a local monument and evolves classical themes from which the sculptor himself took inspiration, we will be removing this art where it is used and be replacing it with a cherub instead.” 

CTVNewsVancouver.ca will stream full coverage of local Remembrance Day ceremonies beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 11.