{"id":106896,"date":"2025-05-16T18:02:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T18:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/106896\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T18:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T18:02:15","slug":"life-size-melania-trump-statue-stolen-after-first-sculpture-was-torched-artist-has-theory-about-whos-behind-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/106896\/","title":{"rendered":"Life-size Melania Trump statue stolen after first sculpture was torched & artist has theory about who’s behind theft"},"content":{"rendered":"

A BRONZE statue of Melania Trump has been stolen, and the artist behind the impressive work fears it was targeted for an eye-rolling reason.<\/p>\n

This is the second life-size likeness of Melania<\/a> to be targeted by brazen criminals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Melania<\/a><\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

A statue of Melania Trump has been stolen, according to policeCredit: The Mega Agency\"Bronze<\/a><\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

The bronze replica depicting the first lady was displayed in her hometown of Sevnica, SloveniaCredit: AFP\"Sawed-off<\/a><\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

On May 13, a brazen thief sawed the sculpture from the ankles and made away with the pieceCredit: AP<\/p>\n

Brad Downey, an American sculptor<\/a> who designed the work, is begging for answers after his piece was stolen from Melania’s hometown of Sevnica, Slovenia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The statue was once proudly displayed in the middle of the town, but on May 13, it was boldly cut from the ankles and hasn’t been seen since, local police told Agence France-Presse.<\/p>\n

Downey, who is from Louisville, Kentucky, and now lives in Berlin, Germany, admitted he was “sad” to hear it was gone.<\/p>\n

However, after learning the news, it didn’t take him long to devise a theory on what had happened to his life-size work.<\/p>\n

“My feeling is that it has something to do with the new election [of Donald Trump], but who knows, right?” he said.<\/p>\n

Downey designed the abstracted form in 2020, and it depicts the first lady waving at friends and family in the town where she grew up.<\/p>\n

The sculptor had planned to show the statue in a museum or gallery, but decided to donate the art after another sculpture he made of the first lady was torched.<\/p>\n

In July 2020, a sick arsonist set the wooden piece, which was commissioned by Downey, alight and completely singed the face of the sculpture.<\/p>\n

That piece of art was designed by Slovenian artist Ales Zupevc, who was born in the same hospital and the same year as Melania.<\/p>\n

Downey mourned the loss of the work at the time, but was hopeful that the new statue would restore some faith in the community.<\/p>\n

Trump’s secret ‘touching’ moments with Melania revealed as she marked birthday at Pope’s funeral<\/p>\n

“I didn’t think it was a good ending for the artwork, I didn’t think it was a good ending for the community,” he told CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the first attack, officials were unable to track down any suspects, leading them to fear that Downey or one of his associates was behind the attack.<\/p>\n

But Downey blasted the accusations and said that he “loved” the commissioned work.<\/p>\n

Unshakeable Melania supporters in the hometown removed the burned wooden sculpture from its post and submitted it to an art exhibition in nearby Slovenian town Kroper called F**k Off Illusion.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

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Slovenian artist Ales ‘Maxi’ Zupevc and US conceptual artist Brad Downey installed the bronze sculpture in September 2020Credit: AFP\"Charred<\/a><\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

Downey replaced a wooden sculpture of Melania that was burned by an arsonistCredit: AFPMELANIA’S JOURNEY<\/p>\n

Quiet Sevnica only has a population of 5,000 people, and it’s become famous for tourism inspired by the first lady.<\/p>\n

Now, the small town sells Melania-themed products, like chocolate, honey, and cake.<\/p>\n

Slovenia was under Communist rule when Melania was born. Her late mother, Amalija, worked hard as a patternmaker at a clothing factory while her dad Viktor sold cars to provide for their family.<\/p>\n

Melania has praised her parents for instilling a strong work ethic in her, which helped as she moved away from the country to pursue modeling and fashion.<\/p>\n

“They\u2019re both hardworking,” she told\u00a0GQ<\/a>\u00a0in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re both very smart and very capable. They grew up in totally different environments, but they have the same values, they have the same tradition.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

The wooden sculpture was intended to be the first ever monument to MelaniaCredit: AFP\"Bronze<\/a><\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

The bronze depiction was installed on the remains of a tree stumpCredit: AP\"Sawed-off<\/a><\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

Only the feet of the sculpture remainCredit: AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A BRONZE statue of Melania Trump has been stolen, and the artist behind the impressive work fears it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[16466,4021,4020,188,4022,32,77,13859,935,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-106896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art-and-design","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-melania-trump","16":"tag-section-newspolitics","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114518828485879711","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}