At the end of June 2023, a photo of a 3D drawing allegedly appearing in a Dutch city depicting the execution of the Ukrainian president went viral on the Internet. We found out if this street art is real.
On June 26, a photo of another work from the so-called Polish art group Typical Optical, a group of artists allegedly painting humiliating 3D graffiti about Ukraine in cities in Europe and the United States, began to circulate. The photo shows an image of the gallows on which Vladimir Zelensky was hanged (with the Ukrainian president hanging as if over a hole in the asphalt).
He spoke about the graffiti allegedly in The Hague on Telegram “Tsargrad-TV"(34,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), as well as channels of TV presenters Ruslana Ostashko (117,000) and Vladimir Solovyov (326,000), where they recalled two similar drawings that allegedly appeared in Warsaw And Madrid (“Verified” already wrote that these are fakes). Other channels where the viral photo appeared include “Russia now"(363,000), "Uncle Slava"(171,000), "What happened?"(145,000), "Special Operation Z"(103,000), "Kedmi's thoughts"(91,000), "Uncle Slava on Telegram"(84,000), Putin TG Team (71,000), "Conflict"(58,000), TarikNezalejko (57,000), "DPR 🅉 info 🇷🇺" (52,000), "Patriot Z🇷🇺" (41,000) and "Before everyone else. Well almost. Special operation"(16,000). The photo became popular on VKontakte, where some publications received hundreds and thousands of likes (examples here, here, here, here And here), on Twitter, where one post dialed 1 million views, as well as on some news websites and even on YouTube.
Initially, a photo of this street drawing appeared on Typical Optical’s social networks - in Telegram-channel of these “Polish artists”, as well as in their Instagram*-account, where the photo was traditionally posted in the form of nine separate publications (probably for bypass Meta* algorithms for combating disinformation). On both platforms, the photo has the same English caption: “Coming soon!” — apparently, the authors believe that such an execution may take place in the future. In addition, part of the photo is equipped with a geotag indicating the location of the shooting, namely The Hague. The same city is also mentioned in hashtags. The Hague, apparently, was not chosen by chance - there located headquarters of the International Criminal Court.
Starting November 2022 "Verified" dismantled nine works by Typical Optical - in all cases it was possible to establish that the graffiti was superimposed on photos taken in advance using graphic editors. At the same time, sometimes “Polish artists” indicated incorrect locations in the tags. For example, Zurich and its suburbs were passed off as other cities three times: London, Berlin And The Hague, where graffiti with Zelensky the Octopus collecting money from the West was allegedly posted earlier.
The new publication of Typical Optical was no exception to the already established rule, since the photo was again not taken in The Hague. Real location of the location shown calculated fact checkers from the British project Logically Facts. Some notable details in the viral photo include: notice several multi-colored pillars with different figures - using the Google Lens image search service, we were able to find out that similar art objects creates sculptor Ivan Pestalozzi. The job you were looking for was recently installed in the Glasi-Quartier area in a small Swiss town Bülach, located in the canton of Zurich, is confirmed and fact checkers from the German publication Correctiv, comparing building facades and other details of the viral photo with panorama streets from Google Maps.
Additionally, the Logically Facts editors contacted with a resident of Bulakh, who confirmed that there is no street art with Zelensky in the indicated place. At the same time TBC, that he also provided a confirming photograph, but it is missing from the material. Correctiv journalists, in turn, contacted for a comment from Thomas Lohmann, president of the Glattal Zurich building society, which is responsible for several residential buildings in the Glasi-Quartier area in Bülach. Lohmann confirmed the location where the photo was taken and clarified that part of Santeramo Square was captured there, but the cooperative knows nothing about the graffiti with Zelensky: “We have no information that it exists currently or existed some time ago.” Please note that street art specialists more than once talkedIt’s impossible to make such a drawing with crayons without anyone noticing, and without getting your clothes dirty. According to them, it would also be impossible to clear the asphalt from such a pattern without traces.
It is noteworthy that the photo of the above-mentioned fake graffiti of Zelensky the Octopus, which was also supposedly taken in The Hague, in fact filmed in the same Bulakh. According to Google Maps, the distance between that place and the Glasi-Quartier area can be pass in about 15 minutes.
Thus, this is yet another, already the tenth, fake from Typical Optical. The 3D drawing of Zelensky being hanged did not appear in The Hague, but was digitally superimposed on a photograph taken in Switzerland.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: @typicaloptical
- Is it true that a billboard was installed in Milan with Zelensky, who is sucking up donations for Ukraine?
- Is it true that in the photo, Ukrainians in Canada are praying to the image of their genitals?
- Is it true that the executioners wore masks?
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