Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
In wife’s neck of woods, a wooden Trump statue stumps
PRI KAMNIKU, Slovenia — There’s no mistaking it depicts Donald Trump: a large wooden statue of the U.S. president has been erected in Slovenia, the homeland of his wife, Melania.
The nearly 26-foot construction shows 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 the Statue of Liberty.
When triggered, a mechanism opens a red-painted mouth and sharklike teeth appear.
“Like all populists, the statue has two faces,” its creator, Tomaz Schlegl, said. “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 village of Sela pri Kamniku, about 20 miles northeast of the capital, Ljubljana.
The statue has a tempo rary permit and has to be removed by Oct. 31.
Some local villagers, unhappy with its appearance, suggest torching it on Halloween.
“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.”
Schlegel, an architect, defended his project.
“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 U.S. tourists came Friday to this 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, of Santa Rosa, Calif.
“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,” 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’s not the first time in Slovenia that a member of the Trump family has been carved in wood. A life-size sculpture of the first lady was unveiled in her hometown of Sevnica in June, drawing mixed reactions from locals.