'It's a disgrace': Life-sized wooden statue of Melania Trump is erected in her home country of Slovenia - but locals complain it looks more like a 'Smurfette' than the First Lady

First Lady Melania Trump has been honored with her first statue in her home country of Slovenia, but locals are horrified by the figure.

The life-sized, wooden sculpture was created by local craftsman Ales Zupevc and commissioned by American artist Brad Downey, reported ITV.

The figure is dressed in the same color Mrs Trump wore during President Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2017. The statue is waving its left hand.

It was officially unveiled in Rozno, near Melania's hometown of Sevnica, on Friday, and drew a crowd of about 30.

But residents of the area say that the statue is a 'disgrace' and have complained that it looks more like a 'Smurfette' than the First Lady

Progress: 0%

0:00

Previous

Play

Skip

Mute

Current Time0:00

/

Duration Time2:55

Fullscreen

Need Text

+7

+7

First Lady Melania Trump was honored with her first statue in her home country of Slovenia. The life-sized, wooden sculpture (left and right) is dressed in the same color she wore during President Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2017

+7

The statue (pictured) was created by local craftsman Ales Zupevc and commissioned by American artist Brad Downey 

ITV reported that although the locals are proud to be from the town where Melania hails, they were shocked that the statue does not resemble the first lady.  

'It doesn't look anything like Melania. It's a Smurfette,' said one local, referencing the small, blue, human-like character from the comic book The Smurfs. 

Another resident told ITV: 'It's not okay. It's a disgrace. That's what I have to say,'  Social media users flocked to Twitter to express their amusement at the sculpture's supposed likeness.

'The first public statue of Melania Trump in Slovenia will be officially unveiled on Friday. I'm sure she'll be pleased,' tweeted one user. 

'The real Melania is more wooden,' another user wrote.

One Twitter user joked: 'HAS MORE LIFE IN IT THAN SHE DOES.' 

According to ITV, the only requirement Zupevec was given when creating the statue was that her dress had to be the same color as the coat Melania wore to the inauguration.   

Downey, who is from Kentucky, featured the statue on a poster for his first solo exhibition in Slovenia titled This Echo, in reference to the nymph from Greek mythology.

'The topic arose as a reflection and an echo of the obvious question Downey asked himself after visiting Slovenia for the first time,' a poster for the exhibition read.

'How deep are the first lady of the US's roots and how do local people live with and react to this indisputable historical fact?' 

DailyMail.com reached out to Downey for comment but he did not immediately respond. 

This is not the only time that there have been plans to honor Mrs. Trump with a sculpture. 

In 2017, Newsweek reported that there was a proposal for a statue of Melania to be erected in the nearby country of Bosnia and Herzegovina.