"Portrait of the Artist's Brother"
(aka Eddie's Last Gasp)
Dixie Otto
This is the second in what was to become known as the Otto Triptych in art circles. Again the artist hammers away at her anti-smoking theme, this time using her 16-year-old brother, Edward Otto, Jr, as the model. Unlike his sister, who was forced to quit because of massive pulmonary surgeries, young Edward steadfastly maintained that the dangers of smoking were overrated, otherwise the FDA would have taken cigarettes off the market ages ago, right? He also pooh-poohed the Surgeon General's warning¹ on each pack, saying that a lot depended on exactly what was meant by "going to." Ms Otto felt that he might have had a fine future career in politics had he not died the week after the painting was completed.
The artist also designed and executed a marble headstone for her brother's cemetery plot, but it was refused by the executive board of the Passedon Eternal Rest Memorial Garden on the grounds that "I TOLD YOU SO, ASSHOLE" was inappropriate.
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This work is on permanent loan from the American Lung Association®, which reminds you that death is permanent, as well as terribly inconvenient.
