Chi should drop smear compaign

It has been brought to my attention that sheriff candidate Walter Chi is using a painting of mine as a vehicle to try to smear Sheriff Joe DiSalvo. The painting is part of a series of paintings I did as an homage to great illustrators of the past. These paintings were interpretations of covers that appeared on men’s adventure magazines that emerged after WWII and enjoyed popularity for a couple of decades. All this was before women’s lib and certainly before the #MeToo movement. Viewed today they could be interpreted as misogynistic, but through the lens of history, they communicate a simpler time; I think a sigh of relief after a world war. When I did these paintings I felt that some extraordinarily gifted artists were being lost to history. Now, people are writing books about these artists and I feel we are richer for it.

Chi is using a photograph of DiSalvo posing in front of one of those paintings that he owns. In the pose he is mimicking the body language of a character in the painting. Chi in a facebook post is suggesting that the photograph is comparable to the image of Al Franken that resulted in him resigning from the Senate. It is not and I strenuously object to my work being used for this purpose.

I can only surmise that Chi, in an epic lapse of judgment, has allowed someone from the Trump administration to work on his campaign.

I seriously doubt that a single Pitkin County voter will be swayed by this bit of sleaze.

On a more upbeat note, I am currently training a herd of drug-sniffing cats and will be willing to rent them out if any future sheriff wants to turn the students of Pitkin County into criminals.

Michael Cleverly

Hotchkiss