Latest news with #AlesZupevc
Russia Today
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Statue of Melania Trump vandalized in Slovenia (PHOTOS)
A statue of US First Lady Melania Trump, erected near her hometown of Sevnica in Slovenia, has been vandalized and stolen, prompting a police investigation. Photos show that the statue was largely cut away, with only the feet and ankles remaining on the tree stump where it was mounted. Slovenian police confirmed to the media that they are treating the incident, which occurred on May 13, as a case of theft and have launched a formal inquiry. The life-sized bronze figure, which was located in a field, succeeded an earlier wooden version that was set on fire a year after its installation in 2019. The bronze replacement, unveiled in 2020, had the same creators – American conceptual artist Brad Downey and local artist Ales Zupevc. The wooden statue had received mixed reactions from residents. Carved with a chainsaw from a poplar tree trunk, it featured Melania wearing a powder-blue painted dress and heels, apparently referencing the cashmere outfit she wore to her husband's inauguration in 2017. The artwork was destroyed on July 4, 2020, coinciding with Independence Day in the statue became a local tourist curiosity in Sevnica, a small town on the Sava River in eastern Slovenia with a population of around 5,000. The location gained international attention after Melania Trump became US first lady. She spent her early years in Sevnica before embarking on a modeling career that took her to the US in 1996. In the years since, the town has reportedly introduced a range of Melania-themed products to celebrate its most well-known former resident. 'My feeling is that it has something to do with the new election [of Donald Trump], but who knows, right?' Downey told AFP, commenting on the latest incident. He described the missing statue as an 'anti-monument' and 'anti-propaganda.'
ABC News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Statue of Melania Trump stolen near US first lady's Slovenian hometown
Police in Slovenia are investigating the disappearance of a bronze statue of the United States's first lady, Melania Trump, which was sawed off at the feet and carried away from her hometown. The life-size sculpture near Sevnica in central Slovenia, where Melanija Knavs was born in 1970, was unveiled in 2020 during US President Donald Trump's first term in office. It replaced a wooden statue that had been set on fire earlier that year. Police spokesperson Alenka Drenik Rangus said on Friday that the police were informed about the theft of the statue on Tuesday. She said police were working to track down those responsible. According to Slovenian media reports and the statue's creator, American conceptual artist Brad Downey, the bronze replica was sawed off at the ankles and removed. Franja Kranjc, who works at a bakery in Sevnica which sells cakes with Ms Trump's name in support of the first lady, said the stolen statue would not be missed. "So I think it's OK that it's removed." The original wooden statue was torched in July 2020. The rustic figure was cut from the trunk of a linden tree by local artist Ales Zupevc and showed the first lady in a pale blue dress like the one she wore at Mr Trump's presidential inauguration in 2017. Mr Downey said he learnt about the theft while preparing a new project in Germany and he was "a bit sad that it's gone". "My feeling [is] that it has something to do with the new election [of Donald Trump], but who knows, right?" he said. Mr Downey added that when the original statue was burnt "it didn't feel right", so he decided to replace it with a bronze copy which he has described as an "anti-monument, anti-propaganda". Ms Trump's arrival in the White House when her husband became president raised hope he might one day visit her homeland, something that has yet to happen. The first lady left the EU-member nation when it was still part of communist Yugoslavia. In Sevnica, some 90 kilometres east of the capital Ljubljana, she has inspired numerous products, including cakes and chocolates, named after her. The replica bronze statue has no obvious resemblance with the first lady. AFP/AP
Fox News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Melania Trump statue sawed off at the ankles and stolen in Slovenia
A bronze statue of Melania Trump was sawed off at the ankles and stolen this week in the first lady's native Slovenia, police said. The statue replaced a wooden one that was erected near her hometown of Sevnica in 2020 at the end of President Donald Trump's first term after it was targeted in an arson attack. Both statues were a collaboration between Brad Downey, an artist from Kentucky, and a local craftsman, Ales "Maxi" Zupevc. The original figure, made of wood and cut from the trunk of a linden tree, portrayed the first lady in a pale blue dress, similar to the one she wore at Trump's 2016 inauguration. The new statue was placed on the same stump as the old one and modeled after the previous design. In July 2020, Downey said the statue would be made "as solid as possible, out of a durable material which cannot be wantonly destroyed," according to The Guardian. Slovenian police spokesperson Alenka Drenik Rangus said Friday that police were investigating after the vandalism and theft were reported Tuesday. Franja Kranjc, a worker at a bakery that sells cakes with the first lady's name in support of her, told The Associated Press the rustic likeness wasn't well liked. "I think no one was really proud at this statue, not even the first lady of the USA," Kranjc said. "So, I think it's OK that it's removed." Zupevc said he and Melania Trump were born in the same hospital, which partly inspired him to create the design. He carved the statue with a chainsaw and sanded it with a power tool. "I plugged in my angle grinder. … I worked and made mistakes … finished the hair … the eyes and all. Then, I called my brother, who said, 'Spitting image of our waitress.' And so it was," Zupevc said during a documentary film by Downey on the making of the original statue. A plaque next to the statue says it is "dedicated to the eternal memory of a monument to Melania which stood at this location." Born Melanija Knavs in nearby Novo Mesto in 1970, the first lady grew up in Sevnica while Slovenia was part of the Communist-ruled former Yugoslavia. An Alpine nation of 2 million people, Slovenia is now a member of the European Union and NATO.
CBS News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Melania Trump statue in her native Slovenia disappears, after previous one was set on fire
Police in Slovenia are investigating the disappearance of a bronze statue of U.S. first lady Melania Trump that was sawed off and carried away from her hometown. The life-size sculpture was unveiled in 2020 during President Donald Trump's first term near Sevnica in central Slovenia, where Melanija Knavs was born in 1970. It replaced a wooden statue that had been set on fire earlier that year. Police spokeswoman Alenka Drenik Rangus said Friday that the police were informed about the theft of the statue on Tuesday. She said police were working to track down those responsible. According to Slovenian media reports, the bronze replica was sawed off at the ankles and removed. The ankles of a sawed-off and taken-away bronze statue that represented Melania Trump remain on the tree stump where it was placed in 2020, in the village of Rozno, Slovenia, May 16, 2025, near Melania Trump's hometown of Sevnica. Relja Dusek/AP The original wooden statue was torched in July 2020. The rustic figure was cut from the trunk of a linden tree, showing her in a pale blue dress like the one she wore at Mr. Trump's presidential inauguration in 2017. The original statue met with mixed opinions by locals, with one resident telling Reuters in 2019 that the Melania depicted in the sculpture "does not look as beautiful as she normally is," while another local told BBC News it looked like "Smurfette." It had been carved out of a tree trunk by local chainsaw artist Ales Zupevc, BBC News reported. The replica bronze statue that replaced it has no obvious resemblance with the first lady.
CNN
16-05-2025
- CNN
Melania Trump bronze statue disappearance investigated by police
A bronze statue of Melania Trump near her hometown in Slovenia has gone missing, five years after it replaced a wooden statue damaged by arsonists. Slovenian police told CNN that they'd been informed of a theft in the village of Rozno, where the statue was situated, on Tuesday. Officers 'conducted an inspection of the crime scene and collected information,' police spokesperson Alenka Drenik Rangus said in a statement Friday. 'The investigating judge and the district state prosecutor were informed about the theft.' No further details were given by authorities. Photos published in Slovenian local media show most of the statue has been sawed off, leaving just its feet and ankles attached to the tree trunk it stood on. The statue was situated beside a river near Sevnica, a small, picturesque town about 90 kilometers (56 miles) east of Slovenia's capital Ljubljana. Before this bronze statue was stolen, its original wooden incarnation was set alight in July 2020 by vandals. Badly burnt, it was then removed from its plinth before being displayed at an art gallery in the Slovenian town of Koper later that year and at an exhibition in Croatia in 2023. Artist Brad Downey told CNN that he had always intended to make a bronze version of the statue to exhibit in an institutional setting, but decided to use it to replace the wooden sculpture after it was badly burned. Downey had originally commissioned the wooden sculpture from local conceptual artist Ales Zupevc, better known as Maxi, who was born in the same hospital and the same year as Melania Trump. Its somewhat abstract depiction of the first lady in the sky-blue dress she wore to her husband's first presidential inauguration in 2017 drew mixed reviews from locals. Sevnica is a sleepy town of 5,000 that has profited from its most famous daughter, placing itself firmly on the tourist trail and selling a range of Melania-themed products, including honey, chocolate and cake. CNN's Nelson Walker, Oscar Holland and Jack Guy contributed reporting.
