As tabloid exaggerations go, it’s right up there with ‘Worse than Nixon’ – or at least pre-2017. Thomas Dambo’s six giant wooden carvings have, according to both BT and Metroxpress, been ‘ødelagt’ (destroyed).

READ MORE: Sleeping giants lurking in the undergrowth of Copenhagen’s suburbs

But before you call off your weekend plans to track down another of the six sculptures lurking in the western suburbs of Copenhagen, which went viral earlier this year after a post on Bored Panda, be assured that ‘destroyed’ in this case means one of them has been spray-painted a bit.

Offering a guiding hand
Their creator Thomas Dambo has graciously reached out to those responsible, offering them a free graffiti/streetart workshop – really, it’s on a par with Jesus’s forgiveness of Judas.

“I also started my own career as an artist by running around and painting all sorts of things in my hometown of Odense,” Dambo wrote on Facebook.

“Over time, I became better and learned how to paint and create things that made other people smile, and I did that because someone older and better than me took the time to explain and teach me their crafts.”

Definitely not destroyed!
In the meantime, despite the headline ‘Danish artist’s world-famous work destroyed’, the sculptures remain standing, or in some cases reclining on a hillside or even supporting a bridge.

And one of them now bears a spray-painted image of Dambo’s face – good enough to impress the artist that the vandal has talent.

Amazing things
Dambo made the sculptures from recycled materials – from old pallets or buildings – to send out the message that waste can create amazing things.

“People live in a triangle around their work, home and local supermarket, and if they want to experience something new, they catch a plane out,” he told BT.

“I have tried to put sculptures in beautiful natural areas that the locals may not venture out to much. I want to awaken their curiosity.”