American President, Donald Trump’s statue, burnt to the ground in Slovenia: President Donald Trump’s statue, designed to highlight the dangers of populism, has been burnt to the ground in Slovenia following the movement of local people’s officials.
The towering 26-foot figure showed the American President, complete with his trademark blond hair, red tie and blue suit, raising his hands high in the air with a clenched fist in a pose reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty.
And while the resemblance on weekdays will remain a relatively quiet representation of the 43-year-old, his closed mouth on weekends will be driven by a mechanism inside the sculpture, giving way to a line of jagged, shark-like teeth.
However, officials have said they are now searching for the arson responsible for setting the artwork on fire, which was found engulfed in flames on 9 January.
Mayor Milan Bulajic of Moravce said that unknown arson burned it — adding that the act was a symbol of intolerance for artistic projects in our society.
The work became a commentary on populism for design by artist Tomaz Schlegl — with the producer saying at the time “I designed the statue because people have forgotten what the Statue of Liberty stands for.”
“I want to alert people to the rise of populism, and it would be difficult to find a larger populist in this world than Donald Trump’s.
Although at the time of its inception it also faced opposition from the locals — with one driving its tractor at the statue before it was completed on private land in the village of Sela pri Kamniku.
After repeated threats to land the figure from residents in the area, it was moved to nearby Moravici – where it was finally scheduled to land five months after its construction.
The portrayal of the President in the Eastern European country followed a statue from Melania Trump — who was born Melanija Knavs in the country in the 1980s.
Ms Trump’s likeness, a life-size sculpture from a trunk of linden tree with a chainsaw under the direction of American conceptual artist Brad Downey, was unveiled in her hometown of Sevinica last year — though the free-form representation was not beloved by all, With some saying that it bore a closer resemblance to a scarecrow than the first lady.
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