Artist protests Cyprus' financial woes with mock toilets outside Central Bank

June 10, 2013 - A police officer reacts as he walks past the white-gray plaster and perlite creations that look like toilets outside of the gate of Cyprus central bank building in Nicosia, Cyprus. (AP)

June 10, 2013 - A man at the Cyprus central bank building passes the white-gray plaster and perlite creations that look like toilets but also resemble tombstones in Nicosia, Cyprus. (AP)

NICOSIA, Cyprus – Andreas Efstathiou's vision of Cyprus' tanking economy is 20 plaster-and-perlite creations that look like toilets but also resemble tombstones.

The artist put them display on Monday in two neat rows outside the gates of Cyprus' central bank.

Passers-by greeted the work with a mixture of bemusement and resigned acceptance. "Isn't it the truth," said 62-year-old Kokos Konstantinou as he gazed at it.

Just as artistic expression has flourished elsewhere in crisis-hit euro-area countries, Efstathiou said it's his wish for Cypriots to get off their couches and express their disdain at the country's sorry state.

Cyprus agreed on a 23 billion-euro ($30.5 billion) bailout in March with its eurozone partners and the IMF.