Wooden Melania Trump statue unveiled near her Slovenian hometown gets mixed reviews

Melania Trump is back in her home country of Slovenia – in the form of a wooden statue.

The life-size statue, which sits on the outskirts of the first lady's hometown of Sevnica, was dreamed up by US artist Brad Downey, who hired local chainsaw artisan Ales Zupevc to create it, according to the Agence France-Presse and CNN.

The sculpture was carved out of a tree and depicts Trump in a blue coat dress raising her left hand. The pose is similar to one of her at her husband President Donald Trump's inauguration.

The statue was revealed during a small inauguration celebration Friday, where people had mixed reviews, the AFP reports.

Nika, a local 24-year-old architecture student, told AFP, "If the monument was meant to be a parody, then the artist has been successful."

Downey told AFP he understood the sculpture may draw mixed reactions.

"I can understand why people might think that this falls short as a description of her physical appearance," he said, but insisted that he found the end result "absolutely beautiful."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Melania Trump statue near her hometown in Slovenia gets mixed reviews