In January, someone shared a picture of a sculpture at the medical centre of Leiden University in the Netherlands on Russian website Pikabu. The sculptor, Margriet van Breevoort, created the piece to symbolize patients' experience of waiting to see a doctor.
The picture of the sculpture subsequently spread across Russian social media, where it became a huge meme.
"Hey lady, why are you cutting in line without even asking?"
The sculpture was given the name "Zhdun," which roughly means "the one who waits."
"I clicked on something and everything disappeared."
Soon, Zhdun was being photoshopped into other famous memes, like Graham — the disgusting car crash meme.
He's found his way into famous art.
Early this month, Zhdun was given his own VK page, which quickly gained over 80,000 followers.
People then started memeing like crazy.
VK
Advertisement
VK
Of course there was a Trump one.
Advertisement
Margriet van Breevoort, who now calls herself the "mother of the Zhdun," told BuzzFeed News that she found out her sculpture had become a meme after she got a lot of Russian followers on Instagram.
She said she loves the reaction, especially when Zhdun is photoshopped into paintings, and says that she might bring the sculpture to Russia in the future.
VK
"I am planning on making a new Zhdun companion and maybe a female version for an exhibition in May in Amsterdam," she said. "After that, it might go to Russia to be exhibited or auctioned."
Advertisement
{{ blurb }}
{{/blurb}} {{#picture_url}}