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Eastwood cut-out above Glendale gets its own empty chair

(Raul Roa/Staff photographer)
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Call it art imitating life.

The Clint Eastwood cut-out overlooking the Glendale (2) Freeway now has its empty chair -- a nod to the film director’s much talked about appearance at the Republican National Convention last week.

Life-sized cardboard cutouts of Eastwood, John Wayne and Gene Autry have been keeping watch over Glendale for months as part of an effort by Glassell Park resident Justin Stadel to spur a conversation about public art.

But it was Eastwood’s 12-minute conversation with an empty chair for an apparently invisible President Obama that spurred an addition -- or two -- to the art display.

The film director’s rambling improv on stage at the Republican convention in Tampa stole the show, and prompted a lot of riffing. Almost immediately, the Twitter handle @InvisibleObama was created, attracting tens of thousands of followers. (A sample tweet: “I’m behind Mitt! No seriously. I’m right behind him.”)

The performance also spurred a new verb -- “Eastwooding” -- with photos of people and animals gesturing to empty chairs proliferating social media websites.

-- Jason Wells, Times Community News

Follow Jason Wells on Google+ and on Twitter: @JasonBretWells

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