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Colbar Art was founded by Ovidiu Colea, who came to the United States in 1978 after waiting 20 years for the exit visa that would enable him to leave communist Romania. Five of those 20 years were spent as a political prisoner in a government labor camp.

Colbar Art is one of a small number of producers of high quality acrylic sculptures. Colbar Art has developed a new reproduction method using acrylic; a technology available only in the United States, providing the US with an advantage in the field of art.

As a child in Romania, Ovidiu spent most days listening to Radio Free Europe and his father's many stories about the Statue of Liberty. The company won the exclusive license from the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation to make official replicas of the Liberty Statue for its Centennial Celebration.

Few companies manufacture Liberty models in the United States. Colbar Art's facility is located in the Blissville section of Queens, NY, and is the largest manufacturer of Liberty models in the world. It is a constant challenge continuing to manufacture Liberty models in the United States. It is no secret labor costs are lower elsewhere, but Ovidiu insists on keeping Colbar Art in the United States. Colbar employs more than 20 full time people, most of whom are immigrants.

It is important to Ovidiu to give something back to the country which afforded him such wonderful opportunities. It makes little sense to him to make the Statue of Liberty in a country where there is no liberty or no Statue of Liberty. By keeping jobs in the United States, he is doing his share to keep the American Dream alive.