Mural of Trump and Putin Kissing Sparks Attention
By Eli Watkins
PHILADELPHIA (CNN) - It looks like the 2016 election is entering the avant-garde.
A mural depicting presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin kissing, along with the stenciled phrase "make everything great again," now adorns the back of a Lithuanian barbeque joint, Keule Ruke.
The image has gone viral, but the artist -- Mindaugas Bonanu -- told CNN Sunday that he was mostly unfazed by the international attention his mural received.
"In my life nothing changed, except that now I have full pocket of food coupons to eat in Keule Ruke," Bonanu said.
The restaurant's owner, Dominykas Ceckauskas, requested a piece of art featuring Trump for his wall.
"We always believed that the small libertarian BBQ joint situated on the NATO border with Russia will go viral one day," read the caption for the photo on the restaurant's Facebook page.
The piece satirizes Trump and Putin by analogizing their relationship with a famous work of art on the Berlin wall, depicting Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker sharing a kiss.
Although neither Trump nor Putin are strangers to parody, this Lithuanian graffiti is notable for joining the two together.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bonanu, who describes himself as apolitical, said after Ceckauskas made the Trump-specific street art request, this "love scene" came naturally to him.
During a time of increased tensions between the United States and Russia, much has been made of Trump and Putin's warm words for each other. The Republican billionaire said last fall that he thinks he would "get along very well" with Putin. Last December, Putin called Trump "a bright and talented person without any doubt ... an outstanding and talented personality."
The piece will only remain up until next Friday, Bonanu said.
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