8:31 p.m., August 7, 2022, amended to 8:34 p.m., August 7, 2022
Wrapped in bright red, reminiscent of the favorite color of the Communists or even that of blood, echoing the war in Ukraine, a sculpture representing Vladimir Putin has been standing since Monday in a sandpit in Central Park. The work makes fun of the master of the Kremlin.
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Entirely covered in red, dressed in a suit and tie and sitting cramped on a tiny tank, Vladimir Putin appeared in a playground in Central Park, New York, on Monday evening. Or at least, a resin sculpture on a human scale and faithful to its features. The statue was erected in this American sandbox by a French artist, James Colomina, to denounce the ongoing Ukrainian conflict, revealed on Saturday CNN
. The Toulouse street artist had notably made himself famous by making a gleaming replica of Emmanuel Macron, deposited in turn in front of the Senate and on the Quai de Valmy in 2021.
His representation of Vladimir Putin had discreetly been installed in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris
, a few days in June, before heading to the sandbox at Jardin Joan Miró in Barcelona, then making a splash in the Big Apple. ” This sculpture aims to denounce the absurdity of war and to highlight the courage of children in the face of violent and catastrophic situations triggered by others. “Explains succinctly James Colomina on his Instagram account, in the caption of pictures showing children playing around the statue.
Read also – Why Russian Artists Struggle to Oppose Vladimir Putin and the War on Ukraine
A fault line is emerging between artists and Russia
The art world is trying to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by canceling exhibitions and cutting ties with the country of the czars. James Colomina participates in the revolt by creating, thanks to molding, bright red sculptures, which he surreptitiously installs in public places without prior warning. In April, he installed another sculpture in France with an anti-war message: a child soldier carrying a rifle, with a rose at the end of the barrel. ” Stop the war “, hammers the artist on his social networks.
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