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Local artist crossed line with ad

On Oct. 30, a local “artist” launched his latest creative endeavor with an ad in The Aspen Times depicting a stern-looking evangelical Christian straight out of Grant Wood’s “American Gothic,” holding up a Bible, with a website address where copies of said Bible might be purchased if, in fact, this were an actual commercial or evangelical endeavor.

But, of course, it wasn’t, being instead a parodic, political condemnation of what he regards as a disingenuous “photo op” by President Donald Trump in front of St. John’s Church on Lafayette Square on June 1.

For no explicable reason, however, our “artist” chose to stage his own photo op in front of St. Mary Catholic Church on Main Street, perhaps because it is located conveniently across the street from his workplace. In any event, he associated the church both with “fundamentalist” Protestantism and with a political position regarding the president.



Perhaps he has equal contempt for Christians of every stripe, assuming that they are all alike. In that assumption he may be right, since I imagine most Christians regarded the president’s gesture as a “Lift high the Cross,” “Onward, Christian soldiers” kind of response to the current Marxist assault on Christianity and the civilization that it created. We have all seen enough of missions and churches set ablaze, and statues of saints toppled and defaced.

But where we see beauty and inspiration, our “artist” sees only backwardness. At the very least, he owes the St. Mary Parish an apology, as does this paper for running an insensitive ad that insults several segments of our local population. Someone should have known better.




Chad Klinger

Snowmass Village