President Donald Trump was depicted as a street artist selling sketches and feeding pigeons small blue birds resembling the Twitter logo on a bench outside Central Park on Wednesday.
The smiling Trump sculpture, named “Trumpsy” by its creator, artist Alex Gardega, was placed on a bench next to $10 sketches of Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, MSNBC hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough and others. The statue was holding a “Tweeties” cereal box and offering the blue snacks to four pigeons.
“I thought, ‘What if Trump was a street artist?’ ” Gardega said. “It’s the opposite of what you’d expect of a billionaire. He’s just hanging out smiling on a park bench.”
His piece is not meant to be pro-Trump or anti-Trump, Gardega said, adding that it’s more of an observation on his Twitter habits and “how it makes the media crazy.”
The sculpture only stayed on the bench on Fifth Avenue and East 76th Street for a few hours before Gardega removed it. But, the artist said it may make another appearance next week Gardega said.
“When I was wheeling it back, I couldn’t even get down the street,” he said. “Everyone wanted to take pictures with him.”
Gardega made headlines in May when he placed his “Pissing Pug” sculpture next to the “Fearless Girl” on Wall Street. But after the pug was met with controversy, he learned to only leave his work out long enough to get a crowd reaction.
“People started kicking the pug after a while,” he said. The peeing dog made an appearance in his latest piece, seen positioned in front of the drawing of Kim.
Gardega’s next piece will be something on Mayor Bill de Blasio, he said.
“He’s a sleepy head,” Gardena said. “That’s all I’ll say.”
