John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer who raped, tortured, and murdered at least 33 adolescents and young men between 1972 and 1978 in Cook County, Illinois, Chicago. Gacy's known murders were committed inside his Norwood Park ranch. His victims were typically lured to his address by force or deception, and all but one were killed by asphyxiation or strangulation with an improvised garrote, as his first victim was stabbed to death. Gacy buried 26 of his victims in the crawl space of his home. Three more victims were buried elsewhere on his property, while the bodies of his last four known victims were dumped in the Des Plaines River. Gacy became known as the "Killer Clown" because of his charitable services at fundraising events, parades, and children's parties where he dressed as "Pogo the Clown" or "Patches the Clown", characters he created . to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Gacy was subsequently tried, placed on death row, and executed by lethal injection. It was during this period that Gacy embraced his newfound infamy and began creating works that raised questions about our perceptions of morality and aestheticism, how we should aesthetically evaluate his work, and to what extent we believe Gacy's immoral crimes influenced our vision of the world. the work at the time of evaluation. How do we approach the artwork of a murderer, someone believed to have immoral values ​​and who performs considerably immoral actions? “Aesthetic moralism” is the idea that the aesthetic value of a work of art is determined by its moral value. The most extreme version of this position reduces every aesthetic value to a moral value. With this view one could say that Gacy's work is entirely influenced by his views on morality, and that seeing his work as works of art with strong aesthetic points collapses due to his darker undercurrents of malicious intent. Considering his aesthetic and technical qualities, Gacy's range of work would be most closely associated with pop art; its application of primary colors and cultural symbols are important components (Gurian, 2016). Gacy was considered an upstanding member of his community and often entertained children by dressing up as "Pogo the Clown." Unaware of the public at the time, Gacy was using this alter ego as an enticement to befriend his victims. This alias is a common theme in Gacy's paintings and knowing the main motif of the costume and makeup it's hard not to feel uncomfortable. This feeling of unease and tension about the work can be supported by Gacy's confession of the murders and how he thought "A clown can get away with murder" so as to believe it is aesthetically unpleasant to look at and make us question the value and value Gacy's work in a positive light and I believe that art is difficult without affecting the morality of it. In contrast, “aesthetic autonomism” is the belief that “morality is disconnected from art” (Luca, 2008), that art has carte blanche when it comes to morality and that it should be evaluated solely on aesthetic value. Although Gacy's acts have been deemed objectively immoral by our society and the justice system, it cannot be said that his work will ultimately inspire similar immoral motivations. Art is largely subjective and leaves it up to the viewer to decide what challenges, inspires and evokes emotions in them. It is Aristotle's held belief that "art simply holdsproperties of human ideas, it is itself not alive and is instead a personification" (Anderson, 1998). So that if the viewer designs and interprets morality based on his or her own perceptions, then Plato's argument for moralism aesthetic; that "a work of art created from immoral ideas, then the art itself is intrinsically immoral" cannot be true. And that perception of Gacynon's morality needs to influence patrons' aesthetic opinion of the work of Gacy's varying levels of morality are evident in Gacy's work and give insight into his intentions and emotions behind the artwork he depicted a variety of subjects, from self-portraits to portraits of other famous figures, for example the convicted murderer and cult leader Charles Manson and the religious prophet Jesus Christ to whimsical fairy-tale scenes After initially confessing to the crimes charged against him and enjoying his newfound fame, the Our perception of the morality of his work changes with him subsequently refuting any involvement in said crimes. This progression and understanding of the morality of his work is certainly reflected throughout. Gacy's early works, including paintings of convicted murderer and cult leader Charles Manson, convey a strong sense of immorality as a whole. Charles Manson's acts have been condemned by most, so the fact that he depicts such a prolific and infamous character speaks volumes to Gacy's morals, influences, and intentions at the time of the painting and the morality of the painting as it "does not can deny that works of art are often influenced by the mentality of artists, their value systems and their ideas about what justifies the creation of a novel, a poem or a painting.' (Carrol, 2004) It is easy to see these paintings as examples of today's socially unacceptable views on morality. In Gacy's “Heigh Ho” series depicting Walt Disney's whimsical Seven Dwarfs, it is unclear how moral or immoral the paintings are. Traditionally the fairytale depiction of dwarves going to work shows examples of teamwork, friendship, kindness and perseverance, thus depicts Gacy's series as moral; however, upon longer inspection, our perspective on Gacy's interpretation may change after he “embraced his indulgence in murder and sodomy by calling death during a 1980s interview “the ultimate thrill,”” the series appears darker and more menacing as it recalls the playful and whimsical stories that. he told boys at parties like "Pogo." and stories he told young men about job opportunities at his home and with his contracting business, thus portraying the series as having deeper immoral truths. In a television interview 13 years after his confession and conviction, Gacy denied killing the young men. She claimed that others had killed those she had just tried to save from a desperate life of male prostitution and later spoke of her self-portraits as "Pogo the Clown" and how their intention was to "bring joy into people's lives" (Gurian, 2016) and how he "had nothing but love for his children and did not believe in hitting them." This appears highly contradictory to the man whose use of this clown persona was originally to lure his victims into his home where they would later brutally kill, torture and rape before hiding the bodies in the crawl space under the house. Gacy's intentions for his self-portraits and his intentions dressed as "Pogo" appear extreme opposites and call into question how the viewer should morally feel about them. Despite Gacy's criminal actions, his.