This essay discusses the paintings produced by serial killer John Wayne Gacy, his morality presented within his work, and the aesthetic value of his work should be influenced by his morality. In this essay we will refer specifically to Gacy's work involving his paintings featuring Pogo the Clown, his character as a child entertainer. And why do people purchase his work and even commission Gacy to create work for them? Why do these collectors support a man with an incredibly dark background? Do they ignore the morals associated with Gacy or is it because of his morality that they purchase and collect his works? A brief look at Gacy's past and the events leading up to his death sentence is explained to provide context on what kind of person he was and how that is reflected in his work. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Serial killer John Wayne Gacy or the "Killer Clown" gained a cult following thanks to the paintings he produced during his time on death row from 1980 to 1994 when he was executed. He was convicted of the murder of 33 boys and young men between the years of 1972 to 1978. He buried his victims in the crawl space under his house after he finished torturing and sexually abusing them. What influenced Gacy to become such a monstrous being? His childhood was uneventful, with the exception of the relationship he had with his father John Wayne Gacy Sr. He was an alcoholic who beat and verbally abused his children. Despite this horrible treatment, Gacy still tried to gain his father's love, attention, and approval, but was unsuccessful due to his father's death in 1965 on Christmas Day. Gacy appeared to be influenced by this upbringing, he would suffer from alienation at school due to a heart problem. Later in his life he moved to Chicago where he attended a business college. There Gacy learned that he was a natural salesman, with his silver tongue he could get out of any situation. After reaching a management position, Gacy married into a wealthy family. His father-in-law offered him a management position in the family-run chicken restaurant business. He quickly became a lovable and well-known member of the community, appearing to be your average Joe until 1968. Gacy received his first felony charge and was arrested for forcing a young employee of his into sexual acts. This was a shock to his family and community, but especially to his wife and two children. Gacy pleaded guilty and his wife divorced him after his conviction. After serving his sentence, Gacy returned to Chicago in 1971 where he remarried a divorced woman and worked as a building contractor. He was considered a shrewd businessman as he cut costs by hiring young high school students to work for him. He gained popularity among the community by hosting street parties and entertaining children at local hospitals dressed in his alter ego Pogo the Clown. In 1978 Gacy became a person of interest to local police due to the disappearance of a teenager and the fact that he was last seen with him. Police were shocked to discover Gacy's previous conviction. Police then searched Gacy's home only to find a rancid odor which they dismissed as a sewage leak. They then examined the collected evidence only to discover that Gacy had a ring belonging to a boy who had already been missing for a year. The police returned to Gacy's home where he confessed and provided the location of all of his scattered victims' gravesunder his house which he dug. Gacy later explained to the police that there were four versions of himself: "John the Builder, John the Clown (Pogo the Clown), John the Politician, and Jack Hanley." Gacy described “Jack Hanley” as someone who did evil things, he was a murderer. In 1980 Gacy tired of pleading insane during the trial, but this did not work in his favor, he was found guilty of the murders and sentenced to death. He spent the last of his 14 years on death row. During his time on death row, Gacy created paintings that have a simple, childlike quality. He primarily painted his alter ego Pogo the Clown in which Gacy would bring out this personality during his time as a children's clown entertainer. He creates his oil paintings with the same ideology he had when entertaining children and that is to "bring joy into people's lives", which is quite chilling to think that such an innocent phrase comes from an extremely dangerous murderer who has a form of schizophrenia . Two businessmen Wally Knoebel and Joe Roth began purchasing Gacy's works to donate them to the families of his victims, so they could burn them in an attempt to obtain some form of revenge on the killer for the unimaginable amount of suffering he he had suffered. caused them. Gacy's work began to increase in price as the time of serial killer and murder documentaries became popular among audiences. This gave rise to an increase in the collection of 'muderbilia', works created by dangerous criminals. As people become more familiar with the serial killer genre, they have lost the fear associated with owning a piece of muderbilia. The painting "Pogo the Clown" was launched with a bid of $20,000, a figure that had risen considerably considering when Gacy began selling his work at a starting price of $300. The appeal of Gacy's work comes from the hidden darkness in his clown paintings. He portrays his alter ego Pogo the Clown as a happy and friendly clown who only wants to entertain and make children happy, but under this happy and brightly dressed clown mask is a dark and sadistic man who wants to transform his fantasies actually sexual. This hidden darkness creates a fear factor that attracts viewers to his work. Within his paintings of Pogo the Clown, there are some signs of Gacy trying to hide what his true nature is. Is he trying to escape his other ego, "Jack Hanley", the evil version of himself? Is Gacy trying to use Pogo the Clown to represent how he really wants to be, as someone who entertains and brings joy to people? In some paintings he places Pogo in a natural scene with pine trees and a blue sky in the background, while his character is painted in non-natural colors such as blue, red, purple, etc. This combination of a vibrant clown in the wilderness is a bit surreal and somewhat disturbing. He also tries to hide his sexual deviant side by depicting Pogo from the waist up. He uses a recurring pose in which his left hand is raised in a Christ-like pose, suggesting that he thought of himself as non-human seeking some form of recognition. That recognition could perhaps still be the love or respect of his abusive father. Gacy's work may have some aesthetic value that attracts viewers on its own or it is the morbid fascination, that fear factor behind the work that attracts viewers. Much of his work is simplistic and childish with heavy use of primary colors. His work shows a lack of formal training and therefore can be considered a form of outsider art that can be appreciated.