Artist who created infamous Bill Clinton painting set record straight on truth behind it
Topics: Australia, Jeffrey Epstein, News, Politics, US News
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: Department of Justice
Topics: Australia, Jeffrey Epstein, News, Politics, US News
The artist who created the infamous Bill Clinton painting previously set the record straight on the truth behind it.
Former US President Clinton appeared in several photos featured in the latest batch of Epstein documents released by the Department of Justice, including one notable image of a piece of framed artwork of him.
It's believed to have been displayed in a property associated with the convicted sex offender, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting sex-trafficking charges.
The painting in question, which was created in 2012 by Australian-born artist Petrina Ryan‑Kleid, depicts 79-year-old Clinton wearing a blue dress with the title Parsing Bill.
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It was originally created as a student piece at the New York Academy of Art with the intention of serving as a satirical commentary on how presidents are caricatured.
Interest in the painting has reignited after it was found that Ryan-Kleid's painting was owned by Epstein.
Ryan-Kleid previously opened up to Artnet about the frenzy of media attention, explaining: "I live a quiet life, and I really just had a naive, newly arrived foreigner’s idea for a thesis."
Parsing Bill's companion painting, depicted George W. Bush playing with blocks and paper aeroplanes called War Games.
"It was just a silly school artwork that was supposed to show, pictorially, the messages we are bombarded with in regards to these presidents," she said, confirming that the choice of blue dress is a reference to Monica Lewinsky’s infamous blue dress, a major piece of evidence in Clinton’s affair with his former intern.
Reflecting on the painting, Ryan-Kleid shared: "Since I’m Australian, I wasn’t then, nor am I now, partisan about American politics. At the time, most of my ideas were fresh from the Daily Show or from Australian cable TV."
The painting, however, is said not to be about making fun of the idea of a man wearing a dress, any more than her painting of Bush is about making fun of a man playing with children’s toys.
According to Ryan-Kleid, Parsing Bill and War Games are both about 'how opposition parties caricature presidents'.
"Neither painting should be taken literally," she added.
The Clinton painting was purchased from the 2012 Tribeca Ball, a fundraiser for the school, with the Aussie artist believing it sold for around $1,300.
Clinton denies all knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Angel Ureña - Clinton's deputy chief of staff - claimed in a passionate social media statement that the 'dump' of the files 'late on a Friday' was not intended 'to protect' the ex-politician.
Taking to X, she wrote: "The White House hasn't been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton.
"This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they'll try and hide forever. So they can release as many grainy, 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn't about Bill Clinton."
Ureña went on to insist: "Never has, never will be."
She went on to reference comments made recently by White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, in a Vanity Fair interview, insisting there is 'no evidence' that Clinton travelled to Epstein's two private islands, where he is understood to have abused underage girls.
"There are two types of people here," Ureña continued. "The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light.
"The second group continued relationships with him after. We're in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that."
She concluded: "Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats."