Wednesday, July 20, 2016

One Down, Many to Go  2016-W29

Let me first say Gretchen Carlson isn't the impetus for the Banshee series I've been painting of late. But yes, she's been floating around the overflowing pool of potential subjects — those generally blonde females who comprise the blathering talent at Fox News. Prior to last week, I'd still be laughing now if you'd told me that Gretchen would soon earn my grudging respect.

But she has done. She must have known that to come forward with her accusations against the powerful predator Roger Ailes, she consequently would have to prove her case and at the same time fight back attacks on her character and her reasons for doing so. Because that is often the way it plays out in America when women accuse men of sexual misconduct in the workplace. I don't know if I like much else about Gretchen Carlson, but I admire her courage. Best of luck to her as she presses her case.

Which brings me to the other player in this drama and to another series I painted circa 2011: the Faces of Evil. For this series, I selected (evil) people of whom I was aware but (it turns out) the public at large were not. Sure, they knew Dick Cheney and maybe one or two others, but nobody ever correctly guessed FoE #4... Roger Ailes. I suspect that after the events of this week, they might do better — at least in the short term.

Time will tell if Ms. Carlson prevails in her legal actions against Mr. Ailes et al, but we didn't have to wait long to see Roger's fall from the top of the Fox News mountain. What all this means for America remains to be seen, yet one can hardly imagine it could be anything besides a change for the better.

The other Faces of Evil can be seen in a special section of my online gallery. As for Roger Ailes, who knows what he might do or where he might be seen next? (Probably in courtroom sketches.) With that said, if ever they decide to remake The Maltese Falcon, I urge the producers to consider Mr. Ailes to take on the role of the despicable Kasper Gutman...  "the Fat Man". I smell Oscar.



Faces of Evil:  Roger Ailes

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