Where was Trump's CPAC statue made? Artist Tommy Zegan says 'patriot' sculpture took him over 6 months to make
The larger-than-life statue of former President Donald Trump that turned heads at the Conservative Political Action Conference was actually made in Mexico, according to a report.
Tommy Zegan, the artist who made it, is an ex-pat living in Mexico. He told Politico that it took him more than six months to make it with the help of three men in Rosarito, Mexico. Trump is depicted in the statue wearing American-flag shorts with a suit jacket. The former president also rocks beach sandals and a magic wand.
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"He's wearing a business suit because he's a businessman. The red tie represents the Republican party, the red white and blue shorts represent the fact that he's a patriot," Zegan told the New York Post. The fiberglass statue was moved to Tampa, Florida, and painted before it was dispatched to the CPAC.
Conservatives praised Donald Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference and unveiled a golden statue of the former president https://t.co/simUtvu8jk pic.twitter.com/BjFDj261WL
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 28, 2021
Zegan said he wasn't a "big supporter" of Trump when he voted for him in 2016. "I mean I voted for him because I wasn't going to vote for Hillary. So I voted for him, but I didn't really care for him. I used to watch 'The Apprentice' but I would turn it off halfway. I thought, 'This is stupid'," he said.
According to Zegan, he has made another $50,000 version of the statue out of stainless steel that he hopes to have installed in a future Trump Presidential Library. He said he's already in touch with Trump's executive assistant Rhona Graff about the same. “She’s trying to get me in with the right people,” he told Politico.
Last year, Zegan attempted to enter Mar-a-Lago on Trump's birthday to present him the original sculpture. However, he couldn't get past security. The artist told Fox News that throughout the Trump presidency, he saw countless signs, balloons and effigies of the 45th POTUS portraying him in a bad light, such as the "Baby Trump" balloon. "Is this the best the art community can do?" Zegan remembered wondering. "So, I said I can do better."
Zegan explained to the outlet that there is a lot of "symbolism" in his golden tribute to Trump. While he reiterated that the suit represents his life as a businessman, the red tie is symbolic to the GOP, while his red, white, and blue shorts show that he's a "patriot", he added, "He's wearing sandals because he should be retired and out on the beach somewhere at this point in his life but he's not."
Meanwhile, the statue also sees the former president holding a magic wand to symbolize a 2016 comment made by former President Barack Obama in which he asked Trump, "What magic wand do you have?" in order to create jobs out of thin air. Finally, he's holding the constitution because "it’s something he believes in," Zegan added.
The artist said he does not want people to construe his work as an "idol" to worship, insisting that everyone is invited to laugh and pose for photos next to the sculpture. Zegan's next project will be a statue of Robin Williams as Popeye, according to Fox News.
