'Two-faced' wooden statue of Donald Trump raises eyebrows in Slovenia
A large wooden statue of President Donald Trump has been erected in Slovenia, the homeland of his wife Melania.
The nearly eight-metre high (26 feet) construction shows Mr Trump with his trademark hair style, blue suit, white shirt and a long red tie. His right arm, fist clenched, is raised high like that of New York’s Statue Of Liberty.
When triggered, a mechanism opens a red-painted mouth and shark-like teeth appear.
Its creator Tomaz Schlegl, said that "like all populists, the statue has two faces."
“One is humane and nice, the other is that of a vampire.”
The monument was built on private property among the rolling hills of the sleepy village of Sela pri Kamniku, some 20 miles northeast of the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana.
The statue has a temporary permit and has to be removed by Halloween, October 31.
Some local villagers, unhappy with its appearance, suggest torching it that day.
“I thought it will be a sculpture, one statue,” said Stane Supar, who owns land where it stands.
“But now this huge thing has grown, and everyone tells me it’s a provocation.”
Mr Schlegel, an architect, defended his project, saying it is “provocation against populism that the world is full of”.
“It is the Statue Of Liberty, which no one today knows what it represents,” he said.
“The pose is that of Superman. He can do and say whatever he wants without consequences.”
Two American tourists came to the remote corner of Slovenia after hearing about the statue.
“It seems like a really unusual location for a piece of art like this,” said Eddie Flawer from Santa Rosa, California.
“I’m not very fond of Donald Trump and I didn’t know what to make of his hand up and doing the salute and the spikes coming out of the top of his head,” Mr Flawer said.
“But maybe it’s a metaphor of the Statue Of Liberty which would make some sense since he seems to be doing everything in his power to negate the beauty and the spirit of the Statue Of Liberty.”
It is not the first time in Slovenia that a member of the Trump family has been carved in wood.
A life-sized, wooden sculpture of Melania near her home town in Slovenia - caused a stir when it was erected earlier this year, with some local residents branding it a "disgrace".
The US first lady's first statue in her homeland Slovenia was the brainchild of US artist Brade Downey, who hired a local craftsman to erect the statue by the river Sava, near her hometown Sevnica.