Details have emerged of the bizarre painting of former US President Bill Clinton wearing a dress that was owned by convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Public knowledge of the painting has sparked a huge amount of debate and discussion online as Bill Clinton was known to a be a close associate of Epstein and visited his island on a number of occasions. Epstein is widely believed to have run a massive underage sex-ring spanning decades and involving hundreds of victims. His connections with prominent people, including Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Donald Trump, has been subject of wide media interest.
The fact that the painting was owned by Epstein first came to light when a visitor to Epstein's $56 million home took a picture of the painting and then put it online.
The painting is called 'Parsing Bill' and was the work of New York-based Australian artist Petrina Ryan-Kleid. Ryan-Kleid was completely unaware that Epstein owned the painting and it was not commissioned by Epstein himself. In fact, it is just one of many paintings that the artist has created of famous people and politicians. Her other works including a satire of George W. Bush who is shown playing with two Jenga towers and toy-planes, is a reference to the 9/11 attacks.
In 2012 'Parsing Bill' was shown at the Tribeca Ball, a fundraising event for the artist's alma mater, the New York Academy of Art.
The artist said on hearing that Epstein owned the original painting:
"In 2012, as a grad student at the New York Academy of Art, I painted pictures of Presidents Bill Clinton and Bush as part of my Master's thesis. When the school put on a fundraiser at the Tribeca Ball that year, they sold my painting to one of the attendees. I had no idea who the buyer was at the time. As with most of my paintings, I had completely lost track of this piece when it was sold seven years ago. So it was a complete surprise to me to learn yesterday that it wound up in Epstein's home."
Bill Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein and said he had only flown on his plane a few times. However, flight records show he had been on Epstein's private jet on a number of occasions. Recently a photograph emerged of one of Epstein's victims giving Clinton a massage while they were waiting in an airport. The woman did, however, say that she had never been involved with Clinton nor saw him commit any crimes. She even added that he had been at all times a 'perfect gentleman'.
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