<p>A bronze statue of first lady Melania Trump was unveiled this week near her hometown of Sevnica, Slovenia, after arsonists burned a wooden version in July.</p>
<p>Artist Brad Downey, who debuted the revamp on Tuesday, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/style/article/melania-trump-statue-bronze-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told CNN</a> that he had always intended to make a bronze edition of the first lady&#8217;s statue for use in an institutional setting but decided to use the bronze version as a replacement for the wooden one that was vandalized on July 4 and now features as an exhibit in the Slovenian town of Kroper.</p>
<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t think it was a good ending for the artwork, I didn&#8217;t think it was a good ending for the community,&#8221; Downey said regarding the charred wooden statue.</p>
<p>Downey further said the local community supports the statue, which he said was a &#8220;donation&#8221; to the small town with a population of approximately 5,000.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">A new bronze statue of first lady Melania Trump was unveiled in Slovenia this week, after a wooden version of the memorial was burned in July. <a href="https://t.co/0nVGXShV1E">pic.twitter.com/0nVGXShV1E</a></p>
<p>&mdash; CBS News (@CBSNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1307009018922258432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Some have claimed that Downey or his surrogates perpetrated the arson attack on the wooden statue, but he denied such allegations to CNN, saying, &#8220;I didn&#8217;t do it. I loved it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Explaining he had tried to prevent statues of the burned statue from circulating, Downey said, &#8220;If I&#8217;d been it I would have let people take photos of it. I removed it quickly so it didn&#8217;t enter a dark narrative.&#8221;</p>
<p>Downey had previously told CNN that his inspiration for creating the likeness of the first lady was because of President Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;anti-immigration narrative.&#8221; He claimed that the fact he married an immigrant contradicted his platform that sought to stem the tide of illegal immigration to the United States.</p>
<p>As The Daily Wire reported on the wooden edition:</p>
<blockquote><p>A wooden sculpture of first lady <a href="https://thehill.com/people/melania-trump">Melania Trump</a> that was carved with a chain saw into a living linden tree about five miles from her hometown of Sevnica, Slovenia was <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/europe/506485-statue-of-melania-trump-set-on-fire-in-slovenia">set on fire</a> on July 4.</p>
<p>Brad Downey, the American conceptual artist who commissioned blue-collar pipe layer and amateur woodworker Ales Zupevc to create the sculpture, informed <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-slovenia-melania-trump-sculpture/u-s-first-lady-melania-trump-statue-set-on-fire-in-slovenia-idUSKBN24933K">Reuters</a> the wooden sculpture had been set afire, adding, “I want to know why they did it.” He also allegedly filed a police report but strangely said he would like to interview the perpetrators for a film he is making.</p>
<p>“Rising nine feet from the trunk, the statue is blocky, waving with a hand more akin to a paw. Its eyes are bulging ovals beneath a near unibrow, its nose a pudgy blob. Save for its powder-blue Inauguration Day garb, it looks little like the first lady,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/07/08/she-might-like-it-slovenian-pipe-layer-who-carved-melanias-statue-isnt-laughing-with-critics/">The Washington Post</a> reported in July 2019.</p>
<p>Because Downey, who was born in Kentucky but now lives in Berlin, Germany, has a reputation for pranks, people were unsure if the sculpture was in admiration or mockery for the first lady. Berlin-based curator Lukas Feireiss told the Post, “I think that’s the beauty of it, that nobody can answer the question: Is it serious? Is it a joke? That ambiguity is the strength of his work, the fact that we can’t really figure it out. That’s always, to me at least, that’s always the power of it.”</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Related</strong>: <strong><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sculpture-of-melanie-trump-near-her-home-town-is-burned-on-july-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sculpture Of Melania Trump Near Her Home Town Is Burned On July 4</a></strong></p>

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Burned Wooden Statue Of Melania Trump In Slovenia Replaced With Bronze Edition

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Burned Wooden Statue Of Melania Trump In Slovenia Replaced With Bronze Edition