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But the two have taken hugely different life paths. Downey provided Maxi with a life-size photo of Trump and left the rest to him.

\"I don't know her personally, but she's my age,\" Maxi says in a documentary film Downey directed, which was shot while the sculpture was in the making and is part of his exhibition, \"This Echo,\" at a gallery in Slovenia’s elegant capital, Ljubljana.

\"I wanted to do an artistic investigation of Mrs. Trump through her native region,\" Downey explains. \"And I wanted a self-taught local artist whose work followed the folk tradition.\"

\"PHOTO:
Borut Zivulovic/Reuters
PHOTO: A wooden sculpture of first lady Melania Trump is officially unveiled in Rozno, near her hometown of Sevnica, Slovenia, July 5, 2019.
>
\"PHOTO:
AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool
PHOTO: In this Jan. 20, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump waves as he walks with first lady Melania Trump during the inauguration parade on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.
>

Downey admits his concept is also somewhat political.

\"I was inspired to do something about this anti-immigration narrative coming from Donald Trump,\" he told ABC News by phone. \"It is a blatant contradiction to have a president, who is married to a [legal] immigrant, make stopping immigration a cornerstone of his presidency.\"

For the folk artist, the work is more personal.

\"She might come and see the thing. She might like it,\" Župevc says.

\"Let's face it,\" he adds, \"she owns half of America, while I have nothing.\"

\"PHOTO:
Jure Makovec/AFP/Getty Images
PHOTO: The first ever monument of Melania Trump, set in the fields near town of Sevnica, July 5, 2019.
>

Although the Trump statue has received some positive feedback on Instagram, local residents have mixed opinions.

\"It’s really a cultural shock for us,\" Mirjana Jelancic, a Sevnica school principal and a close childhood friend of Melania Trump, told ABC News, refusing to elaborate further.

\"Why did he have to make her look like an evil stepmother of Pinocchio?\" asked Blaž Berginc, a Sevnica pensioner. \"What a disgrace!\"

But Downey insists, \"Most local people were very supportive of the statue. Some even promised to take good care of it.\"

\"She is our beauty, no matter what, even here. She looks like she just walked out of a beautiful naïve painting,\" Mojca Platnar told ABC News. And besides, says another neighbor, Janez Hočevar, \"It’s a fun new tourist attraction.\"

Melania Trump's husband can relate to building those.

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