Serial Killer's Art Auction

[MrsSpringsteen]

I was going to post his drawing but I don't want to give him the publicity..

I don't believe he should be profiting from this, he can create all the art he wants but not for profit. If he can be in any way "rehabilitated" and the art helps in that way that is fine too, but not for any gain other than that. I edited out the web site too


"A Massachusetts serial sex slayer’s crayon drawing of Jesus will be auctioned online starting tomorrow and could reap the cultured killer a handsome windfall while he awaits word on whether he’ll be showcased in a Manhattan art show next month.


“Will they be showing pictures of the women he murdered at the same time?” an angry Hampden District Attorney William Bennett asked on behalf of Alfred J. Gaynor’s victims: JoAnn Thomas, Loretta Daniels, Rosemary Downs and Joyce Dickerson-Peay.


Bidding for the Gaynor original, “A Righteous Man’s Reward,” will start at $15. Bay State laws don’t prohibit the latter-day Boston Strangler from profiting from his notoriety.

One true-crime memorabilia Web site is asking $5,000 for a 1982 oil painting of a clown by Illinois serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

Gaynor’s homage to the son of God is one of 287 inmate entries the Fortune Society will cull to 130 for its show titled, “Insider Art: The New Outsider Art.”

“The man is a convicted serial killer,” Bennett said of Gaynor, 38, who is serving four life sentences at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley. “The deaths created a great deal of fear in our community.”

Thomas, 38, Daniels, 38, Downs, 42, and Dickerson-Peay, 37, were sodomized and choked to death between late 1997 and early 1998. Jesus and jungle cats are popular subjects of prison paintings, said the show’s project manager, Chelmsford native Kristen Kidder. Some inmates dabble in melted M&Ms or coffee grounds, fashioning paint brushes from their own hair.

“The same people who are capable of murdering children are capable of listening to music,” argued Fortune Society president JoAnn Page.

“We believe strongly that in addition to the punishment, there should be rehabilitation.”

Collectors who attend the show or simply peruse the artwork online will not be told of the crimes behind the creations. And don’t expect Gaynor to be sipping champagne at the show’s Dec. 13 premiere at the Lab Gallery on Lexington Avenue. Diane Wiffin, spokeswoman for the Department of Correction, said there have been no furloughs from Souza-Baranowski since 1995.

The prison does not have a formal art program, but Gaynor is allowed to draw in his cell using approved art supplies he pays for, Wiffin said.

 

[Macfistowannabe]

I was going to post his drawing but I don't want to give him the publicity..

Nor do I. It's disturbing how it deserves any attention.

 

[nbcrusader]

The victim's families should file a civil suit (for the killings) and take any proceeds this guy thinks he will reap.

 

[indra]

"A Righteous Man's Reward"

Interesting choice for a title. I wonder if he considers himself that "righteous man?"

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

they talked about this on Paula Zahn last night

Serial killer art raises free speech debate

By Daisuke Wakabayashi

An online auction of artwork by a serial sex killer triggered outrage in Massachusetts on Tuesday where lawmakers proposed to block criminals from profiting on what they called "murderabilia," setting off a debate on free speech rights of prisoners.

A colored pencil sketch of Jesus Christ kneeling in a desert by Alfred Gaynor, a serial killer serving four life sentences for sodomizing and choking to death four women, went on sale on Tuesday on a Web site operated by a prisoner advocacy group.

It was one of nearly 300 artworks offered for auction through December 18 on... Web site. If sold, nearly all proceeds from the work entitled, "A Righteous Man's Reward," will go to Gaynor, the group said.

Protests from the families of Gaynor's victims about the possibility of a convicted murderer profiting from his criminal celebrity prompted state Rep. Peter Koutoujian, a Democrat, to submit a new variation of a "Son of Sam" law in the state legislature.

But the legislative proposal triggered its own debate over the prisoners' constitutional right of free speech.

Marjorie Heins, a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, said freedom of expression extends to prisoners even if it causes emotional distress or offense to the victim's families.

"It's too narrow to say 'it's just this one guy and he's a creep so he shouldn't get any First Amendment rights.' Whether it is a painting or other work produced, there is a social interest in making it available to view it or read it," said Heins, adding, "Prisoners are not deprived of constitutional rights."

The artwork of America's most notorious killers -- ranging from pencil drawings by Charles Manson to a painting by executed serial killer John Wayne Gacy -- fetch hefty sums from collectors of "murderabilia."

"We're taught in society that crime doesn't pay, but here we are allowing crime to pay and it's sending the wrong message to people," said Koutoujian, a former prosecutor.

Koutoujian said the new bill focuses on banning profit from art or books based on the criminal's celebrity and not the content itself.

Massachusetts is one of the few states without a "Son of Sam" law that requires convicted criminals to give money earned from book, movie or other deal to victims or to the state.

America's first such law was passed in New York after "Son of Sam" serial killer David Berkowitz was offered big money for his story. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down that law in 1991 but it was retooled and put back on the books in 1992.

There are more than 30 states with such laws that have been unchallenged, mainly because they are so seldomly invoked.

The Supreme Judicial Court, Massachusetts' highest court, said in 2002 that an earlier version of the law violated free speech provisions in the state and federal constitutions. Koutoujian, a former prosecutor, says the auction underlines the need for the law.

Lana Wachniak, a professor at Kennesaw State University and an expert on serial killer art, argues most serial killers use art to promote a veneer of normalcy and do not care about the profit from a potential sale.

.. said its online and studio art show draws work from a wide range of prisoners -- not just killers -- and most items sell for less than $100.

"It's a misconception that we're selling this art for thousands and thousands of dollars and that people are making all these profits," said Kristen Kidder, project manager of the art show.

She doesn't seem to get that it might be the principal of it, not the amount of the profit. Like it was stated on Paula's show, the art looks like a kid's drawing that no one would be interested in purchasing except for the prurient interest involved.