It’s not like ChadMichael Morrisette and Mito Aviles haven’t already come out of the closet about their political beliefs.
Morrisette and Aviles, known for their window displays in fashionable stores, caused a stir in 2008 when they hung a mannequin portraying Sarah Palin by a noose in front of their West Hollywood home at Fountain and Orange. That image of the Republican vice presidential candidate hung outside for three weeks, drawing criticism from TV commenter Keith Olberman and some of their neighbors. And support from others.
On Halloween in 2009, they stirred the political pot again by putting on the roof a mannequin illustrating Maggie Gallagher, head of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy and co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage (and an opponent of same-sex marriage). Hanging from the roof was a bloodied and mangled mannequin illustrating Carrie Prejean, Miss California 2009, who had declared that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
Now Morrisette has used his design talent to address Donald Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic with mannequins that he and Aviles have installed in front of their home.
“This Is Trump’s Fault” reads a large sign posted in their yard and topped by the cloth-wrapped images of three who have died. Images of two other COVID-19 victims are on the ground in front of them. The images were created by Morrisette and installed by him and Aviles.
“Each and every day, death tolls as result of this pandemic,” Aviles said to WEHOville. “There has been more death around this pandemic as a result of lack of leadership in the White House than ever. We are being lied to and gaslit by this President, his Administration, and enough is enough. Our economic melt-down, unemployment of so many, the lack of jobs, the lack of infrastructure, the lack of safety and security but most importantly, the lack of truth and transparency is on the hands of this President and his administration.
“’This is Trump’s Fault,’ is motivated by ensuring the public does not fall for the gaslighting and lies coming from this President and this Administration. Effective leadership is needed, and this President is not the effective leadership our country or this world needs. Time to vote him out.”
Quoting James Baldwin, Aviles said: “Art is here to prove that all safety is an illusion… Artists are here to disturb the peace.”
JF1…or is it H1N1?…you have been quiet. I sure hope you didn’t get the swine flu or covid since you have so much time to check in here by posting every 3 minutes. Please keep checking in…we miss your…🤔 …I am sure it will come to me!
As long as we have ballot harvesting in California nothing will change for the better
Artistic expression? Maybe they should substitute Trump with Pelosi. Of course that’s not popular in West Hollywood. Where if you’re anything except a Democrat, you’re considered right wing even though you’re an independent or a moderate Republican or belong to the Planned Suicide Party. Everything is controlled by Democrats in California. And what do we have for it? $3.30 a gallon gasoline while in Wisconsin it’s just above a dollar. Because in California we have every tree-hugging idiot writing useless laws and regulations. Look at the nursing homes where many people have recently died of the C virus. They had… Read more »
Touche!
yup
Yeah. This is all Pelosi’s fault. She’s turning people against their state government on Twitter, she’s still keeping children in cages, she’s filling the pockets of big business, she’s attempting to set women’s and gay rights back 200 years. Hey, I heard there’s a social-distancing protest going on down in Orange County. Wanna join them? #lookoverheredontlookoverhere #thintheherd #move
Yes to artists provoking! Bravo!
A-Men Jason!
No fan of Trump….but this is silly.
“Artists Are Here to Disturb the Peace,” Actually, that is called anarchy. Your description is clearly classified as anarchists.
Lol 😂 Trump killed people . Gays killed 6 hundred thousand people with the aids virus! ( I know it’s not true but a lot of people still think that ) Don’t get all butt hurt it’s not my fault you have such hatred and can’t think beyond your hatred for one person . This is America and people are allowed to think how they want. It’s a sad day when gay people think that we all need to be the same and think same sorry Mary’s but your on your own with that type of thinking. Call it what… Read more »
Truth!
JUST ART
BRAVO!!! Love thought provoking statements. I have read a couple of these comments and I am very surprised at how many Trump supporters there are in WEHO. That makes absolutely no sense. I am also surprised that ‘gays’ take the time to be teardown other gays. We simply should not do that to each other. If we don’t support our own we, should just keep our unpopular mouths shut or at least have the balls to say your name in public. In this age of social media, so many miserable people (gays included) sit behind their computers and shit on… Read more »
Jason, how about a little tolerance for diversity of thought? Do we all have to think just alike to be a part of a community? For some people being gay means nothing more than same sex attraction and they don’t have any particular interest one way or the other about gay political issues. In my list of priorities the national economy and opportunities, defense, education, and generally having the government out of my way as I pursue my own ambitions are all at the top. Far too many gay people seem to give no consideration at all to any other… Read more »
Far Left San Francisco politics took over California (look how that turned out for San Francisco, crime, homelessness, feces -drug use in the streets and the only ones that don’t mine are the super-rich) and the Democratic party.
Once they strategized that their power lay in Congress and massive illegal immigration in the 1990s, that really was the end of focusing on the needs of the Working-Middle Class. Congressional seats by the numbers of ALL (including illegal immigrants) swung our party to the Far Left.
The bulk of Democrats are Centrists…and they are not happy.
It’s like NAZIS afraid of people having independent thoughts. Goes against everything this nation stands for …..freedom of thought. Just like the display we are discussing.
I think it is silly just like the sick obsession of hating Trump, however, this is America and they have that right just like people who do not buy into the sheep mentality of the Far Left open- border lunatics.
LOL. Art? Looks pretty trashy to me. And Ham…..is my real name. This is what hopeless people do….to give the appearance of mattering.
Oh, so just because they don’t agree with the psychotic behavior of HATE TRUMP every minute of the day they are automatically Trump supporters? That is the mental deficiency that has infected the sheep. None gets to dictate what people should or shouldn’t do. Who cares about your self-identity…guess what, handles are how social media works around the globe. Certain opinions are not that of every Democrat, that is why it is America and not some Third World dump where they shoot you if you think for yourself. Most people have priorities in life, health, good jobs, safety, law, and… Read more »
Morrisette and Aviles need to be more specific because they’re not providing support for their accusations. They’re making charges that I don’t think they can back up. The president can’t shut down a state, Greeneyedboy. Only the governor can do that. The president can stop travel from other countries, which is what he did and he was called a racist and xenophobe for doing it. Study the concept of federalism and you’ll understand that the federal government is intended to be small and each state is to make governing decisions for themselves. The federal government does far, far more now… Read more »
“The president can’t shut down a state, Greeneyedboy. Only the governor can do that.” The president can shut down the country though. The president can also advise for a shutdown in states. The governor of Florida only shutdown his state after trump said it was a good idea (well after all of those spring break gatherings happened). Also. are you saying Trump was wrong when he said he had “total authority” just a few days ago? I think Trump’s understanding of federalism and the government is smaller than his understanding of basic sentence structure. Morrisette and Aviles don’t need to… Read more »
Let’s just start with the WHO, “There is no evidence it spreads from human contact.” word by word China’s fake tagline. NYC’s virus mess needs to be owned by failed LOCAL leadership. An idiot mayor and a professional Trump-hater Gov. who failed to take preventive action as required by leaders, not reactive. I am just sick of pissy Democratic leaders whose only mission is to see Trump fail. (I have never seen this kind of political extremism in my 50 years) I don’t give a damn about Trump, what are my democratic leaders doing for ME! That stupid moronic AOC… Read more »
Greyeyedboy Extremism is the disease that rules the day of social media and propaganda news. This is a whole new game of obsession. Trump this Trump that…what the hell has Far Left Democrats done for the Working Middle Class during this? Isn’t it the CONGRESS that creates laws? Two peeps out of them. If we only had Democrat’s working for us instead of whining day in and day out over TRUMP! My message to Democratic leadership is GET OVER IT already and get to work or get voted out. I am a Democrat that is FED UP with the crybaby… Read more »
Brava for expression via art.