This artist from Portsmouth made a big Donald Trump head out of thousands of pieces of popcorn

Southsea-raised Kevin Keating, 58, created the figure out of thousands of individual popcorn pieces he cooked himself, from kernels. 

The figure took a month to create as he mixed a ‘special active ingredient’ with oil to bind the popcorn – following a ‘secret’ process which involves drying the sculpted mass and adding to it in stages.

As Mr Trump joined world leaders including Her Majesty the Queen to mark the anniversary on Southsea Common yesterday, he went blissfully unaware of the fact his likeness, in popcorn form, was also in the city.

Mr Keating said: ‘I’m not a political person but I made this to mark this event in my home town.

‘Love him or hate him, Trump is the most controversial figure on the planet – and it’s my job as an artist to portray him using my medium.’

He added: ‘One of my focuses as an artist is to be completely original, so I’m constantly on the lookout for unusual ways to portray things with unusual materials.’

Mr Keating, who has a home in Southsea but lives and works full-time as an artist in London, said the idea of creating with popcorn was something of a eureka moment, in 2017.

‘It started when I was eating it,’ he said.

‘I began to feel it and squeeze it with my hands and I thought “this could be quite a nice material”.

‘I’ve made a few pictures with popcorn now.’

Over the past two days, the popcorn bust, which is larger than a human head, has appeared at various spots in Portsmouth while Mr Keating photographs it.

One image shows it in close proximity to HMS Warrior and Portsmouth Historic Dockyard – two gems of the city’s heritage – with Mr Keating’s brother, Brendan, proudly stood behind it.

‘Kevin is a really innovative artist and he loves to do things a little bit differently,’ the 55-year-old said.

‘Donald Trump was here in memory of the American soldiers and this is to mark that occasion in an artistic way.

‘It can be interpreted in whatever way you like.’

The bust will go on display at an exhibition by members of the Free Painters and Sculptors in Portobello Road, London, next month.