Making a Killing
Inmate art show brings big bucks

By JOE MAHONEY and DAVE GOLDINER
Daily News Staff Writers

ALBANY

real-life Hannibal the Cannibal could reap a jailhouse windfall after his paintings went on sale last night for up to $500 a pop at a state-sponsored art show for inmates.

Prison officials allowed serial killer Arthur Shawcross, who strangled 11 upstate prostitutes and ate some of their body parts, to show his artwork in the annual Corrections on Canvas exhibit.

"It's totally wrong. I get so mad when I hear this stuff," said Liz Vigneri, whose daughter was murdered by Shawcross. "They do all this for him and they forget the victims."

Shawcross, who is serving 250 years to life, could make $250 for his pencil drawing of the late Princess Diana — 50% of the asking price — and slightly less for several colorful vinyl collages. Pam Worboys, whose sister also was murdered in Shawcross' horrific spree in 1988 and '89, was equally outraged by the show featuring the killer's canvases.

Georgia Reynolds of Elmira views the 'Corrections on Canvas' exhibit.

"He is getting free art supplies, and he's still benefiting," Worboys said. "I truly have a hard time believing that he does this artwork himself."

State lawmakers and officials sipped fruit punch and nibbled cheese and crackers at an opening reception last night at the state Legislative Office Building.

Shawcross, 55, was slapped into solitary confinement and had his art privileges revoked for five years in 1999 after his paintings and even a lock of his hair were put up for sale on an Internet auction site. But the ban was reduced on appeal to nine months.

Correction Commissioner Glenn Goord defended the 35th annual exhibit, saying the artwork shows that "inmates truly are making meaningful restitution to crime victims."

Thomas Bruni's untitled painting deals with prison parole boards.
Half the proceeds are donated to the state Crime Victims Board. Scores of inmates show their work. In the past 16 years, more than $40,000 has been funneled to the board.

The state's Son of Sam Law bars inmates from cashing in on their crimes, but they can sell artwork if it is not related to their offenses.

After hearing about Shawcross' participation, one state lawmaker said he would introduce a bill calling for victims to get all the cash from the show.

"Why does he need any money at all?" asked Assemblyman David Koon (D-Rochester).

One of the prosecutors who helped put Shawcross behind bars said that nothing good could come out of an event that gives him additional notoriety.

"It's sickening to me that he gets a forum for anything," said Monroe County District Attorney Howard Relin. "He should be in a cell for 23 1/2 hours a day, getting bread and water and pounding rocks." Shawcross isn't the only hardened criminal in the show, which attracts art scouts from tony Manhattan galleries.

Triple murderer Lawrence Condon created artwork entitled 'Hay Rake.'
Triple murderer Lawrence Condon, 74, showed his pastoral landscape paintings. An inmate named Thomas Bruni created a surrealistic painting of a parole hearing, with two board members wearing witch hats seated at a table on which there is a statue of the Virgin Mary, encased in a grotto with a rooster on it.

A flap broke out at the exhibit in 1998, when works by Long Island serial killer Joel Rifkin were included in the show.

One of those, titled "Guardian's Failure," depicted a foot on a morgue table, with a medical examiner's tag wrapped around a toe.