Conceived as both tribute and parody, the marble-like composite busts and their wooden amplifier-box stands have been made in Sweden in a limited edition of 100 pieces and are to be auctioned off with a starting price of 1,100 euros. Intended, according to Wodkins, to "play the people who play the world", Putin’s solemn, artfully mutilated bust-cum-speaker both acknowledges his undeniable position and influence in the world and lampoons the propagandistic promotion of his persona, all the while impishly portraying him as the purveyor of soundbites and hollow rhetoric. Ultimately, as is supposed to be the case with all good art, these pieces speak to you —in this case, quite literally.