Ohio Artist Creates Donald ‘Trumpkin’

Just in time for Halloween!

Ever since announcing his presidential candidacy, Donald Trump has become an unlikely source of inspiration for artists across the world.

Responding to Trump’s aggressive anti-immigration policy, Mexican artist Avalos Ramirez created a Donald Trump piñata in June. Last week, at FIAC, Greene Naftali Gallery showed a similar sculpture that the artist Rachel Harrison had found and incorporated to her display at the fair.

Kim Jong Un pumpkin. Photo: CNN

Kim Jong Un pumpkin.
Photo: via CNN

This week, just in time for Halloween, the Ohio-based artist Jeanette Paras has presented Trumpkin, a 374-pound pumpkin in which the artist has painted the semblance of Trump.

Paras’s creation is part of a self-imposed tradition she’s been carrying out over 25 years. “I just ‘pumpkinize’ whoever is visible in the media over the time,” she told CNN of her creations.

Phil Robertson and Miley Cyrus pumpkins. Photo: CNN

Phil Robertson and Miley Cyrus pumpkins.
Photo: via CNN

“The subjects are really self-selected by being in the news all the time and by being the perpetual topic of conversation,” Paras told NBC4i, “The Trumpkin was the overwhelming choice this year. That guy is in the news every day, it seems.”

She has also erected a sign on her lawn, turning Trump’s GOP catchphrase “Make America great again” into “Make pumpkins great again.”

Kanye West pumpkin. Photo: CNN

Kanye West pumpkin.
Photo: via CNN

Paras spent over 10 hours working on Trumpkin, with Trump’s trademark hairstyle taking the longest to perfect.

Telling CNN about her creative process, she explained the greatest challenge is to find a large pumpkin that matches the features of the celebrity she seeks to portrait. A Jay Leno pumpkin needed a big chin, for example, while a Kim Jong Un pumpkin needed to resemble the leader’s head shape.

Jay Leno pumpkin. Photo: CNN

Jay Leno pumpkin.
Photo: Jeanette Paras via CNN

Paras has painted pumpkins in the likeness of Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Bill Clinton, and Monica Lewinski, among many others.

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