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Local artist tours painted cutout of Bernie Sanders around Victoria

Mittens meme of U.S. senator went viral
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An airbrush painted version of the viral Bernie Sanders’ mittens meme catches the eye of a pedestrian walking past the Archer Airbrushing art studio on Fort Street Jan. 28. (Don Denton/News Staff)

Lacking photoshopping skills but with artistic talent abound, a Victoria man decided to hop on the viral Bernie Sanders mittens meme trend in his own unique way.

The owner of Archer Airbrushing on Fort Street, Paul Archer quickly created a transportable wooden cutout of the U.S. senator and began plunking him into various locations around downtown.

“This morning I made this wood cut out of Ernie, or Bert, or Fergie… whatever his name is (I don’t follow politics)…oh…Bernie, yes,” Archer joked in a Facebook post last Sunday (Jan. 24).

Senator Sanders traveled from a barbershop to Floyd’s diner to city hall and through the Bay Centre. He’s even seen taking solo trips down an elevator and escalator. Now, Sanders and his cozy mittens can be found on display outside Archer’s studio.

The mittens meme went viral on the U.S. inauguration day on Jan. 2o, when Sanders showed up to the event in a beige ski jacket and large hand-made mittens. With his arms and legs crossed and his face looking down, Sanders’ look quickly got dubbed “grumpy chic”. Within hours, the senator had been photoshopped into innumerable different scenes and memes.

In B.C. it was no different, where Sanders suddenly showed up in a Saanich municipal staff meeting and attended a COVID-19 briefing with Dr. Bonnie Henry and Adrian Dix through the magic of photo editing.

RELATED: PHOTOS: Bernie Sanders visits B.C. landmarks through the magic of photo editing


 

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