A butter sculpture entered into Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) features the chiseled-faced prime minister.
— Dennis Besana (@DennisBesana) August 23, 2017
Flanked by two panda cubs, the sculpture was inspired by the viral moment ol' blue eyes welcomed little Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue at the Toronto Zoo in 2016.
— CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) March 7, 2016
Created by David Salazar, Olenka Kleban, Laird Henderson and Bailey Henderson, Trudeau's buttery doppelganger will be on display until September 4 along with a few other famous animals, among them the IKEA monkey and a capybara.
— Laura Howells (@LauraHowellsNL) August 22, 2017
"The team and myself came up with the idea, and we thought to have a little bit of fun with it," Salazar told CBC's Metro Morning. "We thought that the iconic images of these animals — like the capybara, the IKEA monkey, Justin Trudeau with the pandas — people would recognize them quickly."
— Laura Howells (@LauraHowellsNL) August 22, 2017
An art form at the CNE since the 1950s, this year's "Wild in the 6" exhibit will feature "Greater Toronto Area's most memorable animals."
— adriana khan (@arevaloAPA) August 19, 2017
"Normally, we have important figures in the country commemorated in bronze or in stone," Salazar, the lead sculptor, added. "I think sculpting [Trudeau] in butter sort of brings it home to everybody… it's a material we all butter our toast with in the morning."
While the creamy figure is making headlines across the nation, this, as it turns out, isn't the first time these creative artists took on reimagining political figures. Back in 2012 Olenka Kleban, one of current collaborators at the exhibit, took on the challenge of creating a sculpture of infamous former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
— Justine (@ej_watkins) September 8, 2015
"He provided all the subject material, the composition for it. It was all him," Kleban told Huffington Post Canada in 2012. "I did want to be silly about it and bring some comedy into it. I wanted to make it memorable for people."
