Artist Petro Wodkins is persona non grata in Brussels this week, for what he did to Mannekin Pis. The peeing statue is a cultural icon for Belgians, and has been since the early 17th century. (It commemorates, by
the way, a wee Belgian boy who defended his country with wee—competing legends has him either peeing out a burning fuse, or just peeing on some enemy soldiers’ heads.)
Belgian authorities were less than amused, then, when Wodkins and associates replaced the beloved Julianske with a gaudy golden representation of the artist similarly (though clearly less heroically) engaged. He helpfully video-documented the whole defacement (embedded below), so it’s clear he didn’t hurt the statue, just obscured it. Still, he didn’t stick around to see if Belgian Politie appreciated that fact – he hightailed it straight back to Russia. And Julianske is restored—(archival footage of him in all his glory, below Wodkins)…
