The actress who played the ‘sad Oompa Loompa’ from the infamous Willy Wonka Chocolate Experience has been immortalised in a portrait which will be displayed in a modern art museum.
The painting features the actress Kirsty Paterson, 29, and is based on the viral photo of her serving sweets from the doomed immersive experience.
The portrait shows the actress, complete with orange body paint and a green wig, looking downcast as she stands against a grey backdrop.
The artwork will be displayed in the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art and Kelvingrove Art Gallery on Friday.
And in a nod to the city, the orange character has a traffic cone on top of her head.
Ms Paterson went viral in March this year after pictures emerged of her serving sweets to children as part of the failed event as the ‘sad Oompa Loompa’.
And she has now made her painting debut in a piece called ‘Grumpa Lumpas Make Glasgow’.
The actress said that the Glaswegian artist Ashley Rawson, 49, showed Ms Paterson a picture of her idea including the cone on her head and she loved it.
Ms Paterson, who became world-famous after the infamous Willy Wonka-themed flop, has received a lot of artwork from artists but wanted this painting to be the official portrait.
Mr Rawson told The Daily Record: ‘She has received lots of art from different artists but she wants this to be our official portrait just like King Charles has his big red one.’
Mr Rawson has also painted The Unknown, the shadowy silver masked character that scared children after popping out from behind a mirror in the ridiculed event.
The picture shows a figure with a silver face and red eyes framed with flowing brown hair and a gold and black patterned cloak.
The figure stands in front of a black and white striped wall with the words ‘He lived in the walls’ etched onto it.
Like the Oompa Loompa, The Unknown also has Glasgow’s signature cone on its head.
The prints, which are available online from the artist’s shop are on sale for £40 each.
To mark the launch of the portraits in their new gallery setting, the Oompa Loompa actress will be followed by a film crew a part of the unveiling and will host a Q&A session.
Museum-goers will also be able to buy prints of the portrait and can wander around original props from the set.
A portion of the profits from the sales of the artwork will go to the charity ADHD UK.
The Glasgow-born actress and yoga instructor was part of the event at the Boxhub in the centre of Glasgow and was organised by events company House of Illuminati.
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Attendees, including tiny excitable children, had been promised ‘a universe where your dreams come true’ but were instead met with a sad grey room, half filled with plastic mushrooms and AI-generated posters.
When it transpired that not only was the event not as advertised but it also hadn’t stocked enough chocolate to feed the crowds, parents called the police on organiser Billy Coull who was recorded grovelling to the mob.
Ms Paterson was promised £500 for two days work at the event and took time away form her job as a fire performer and trainee yoga instructor but says she was never paid.
The 29-year-old said she was embarrassed by the experience.
She explained: ‘I was angry at the time because I felt like this is embarrassing for me, and I felt bad for the people coming in as well.
‘I actually ended up shouting at the guy. I just said to him he’s a joke and this is like embarrassing, and how can we basically live with himself, doing this to people.
‘This is really embarrassing for me. My job is teaching kids yoga and I go into schools and stuff and I do kids’ entertainment.
‘This is none of our faults at all. We got the job and then we got given the script.
‘By that point I’d signed a contract and they said they were going to put us £500 for the two days which is a lot of money which is a lot of money to say no to.
‘I got stuck to the jelly bean bit and by that point I felt awful. There was a part where they were saying it was like a science lab, and you were supposed to hand out jelly beans, and by that point they had run out of jelly beans, so I was just trying to make slightly exciting for the kids.
‘Then I walked off scene because I was so embarrassed.
‘I went mental about the guy and feel awful about the whole thing, like I really honestly do, and I walked off because I was just like feeling so s*** for the kids. The whole thing has just been awful.
‘The whole thing’s just been a complete and utter shambles. It was shocking honestly.’
But she’s not let that stop her and has been taking every opportunity to cash in on her new-found fame.
The actress has joined Cameo and now charges $35 for a personalised video, dressed up in the now-infamous emerald wig and maid outfit she wore during the disastrous event.
The event captured the internet and spawned several viral videos as well as TV documentary and interviews with the cast on television breakfast shows.
The upsetting immersive experience has also been copied across the pond in a dark warehouse in downtown LA.
The audience paid $44 a ticket and were able to stroll around a recreation of the famous Glasgow show which was just as disappointing as the original according to the punters.
