A mock-up of artist Sam Mahon's proposed sculpture of Nick Smith.

Artist and activist Sam Mahon is raising funds to make a giant sculpture of Environment Minister Nick Smith doing a poo.

The sculpture, which Mahon wants to be three times life size and mounted on a trailer so he can tour the country with it, will feature the Environment Minister with his trousers around his ankles, bare-bottomed, doing a poo into a glass of water.

Mahon says the sculpture aims to catch Smith "in the act of doing what he's doing to us".

The piece, a "proposed monument to celebrate the achievements of Nick Smith", will be a commentary on what Mahon perceives as a failure by Smith to protect the country's fresh water sources from pollution by industrial dairying.

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"I guess, when it comes down to it, the Honourable Mr Nick Smith has taken one of the most essential ingredients of life - water - and he's taken a crap in it."

Mahon, who lives in North Canterbury, reckons he needs $12,000 to make the sculpture a reality, and he's taken to the internet to try and raise the funds from the public.

In a tongue-in-cheek funding video, Mahon says he considered making a more cartoonish version of the sculpture, but thought that would only flatter Smith's ego.

"All politicians, they love having themselves drawn, they find pictures of themselves in newspapers - cartoons, drawings - and they stick them onto the walls of their offices, and they laugh about them, they enjoy it."

Instead he realised making a giant version that is as lifelike as possible would be more effective.

Mahon hopes to mount the sculpture on a trailer and drive it through the country to drop off on parliament's lawn as a sign of protest.

This isn't the first time Mahon, an advocate for the environment, has taken aim at Smith through his art.

He sculpted a version of the minister's head out of cow dung, as well as a modified version of it which opened at the hairline when you inserted a coin to reveal the skulls of dead birds where Smith's brain should be.

Following the sculptures, Mahon was invited to Smith's house for lunch. He said the two did not impress each other much, but when he left he apologised to Smith if he'd hurt his feelings with the sculptures.

"Nick turned to me ... he kind of looked around, as if seeking a quiver full of arrows, and he said to me, 'Sam, there's absolutely nothing you could possibly do that could hurt my feelings'."

The latest sculpture, Mahon said, was an attempt to prove him wrong.

Sam Mahon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 - Stuff