Mugshots

Several years ago as I was searching for reference materials for practice in painting heads it occurred to me that there are tens of thousands of fascinating public domain photos taken by law enforcement and easily available online. Police photos (mugshots) are common, easy to find, carry no copyright issues, and very commonly provide a window into the personality of the accused. Looking at photographs of these individuals always causes me to wonder what really goes on behind those eyes.

So for a year or two mugshots of truly infamous law breakers was one of my favorite ways to practice painting heads. As is almost always the case with studies and practice works, many of the paintings that resulted were useful as studies but little else. A few might stand as tronies of a kind, although in each case the identity of the individual is obviously well-know. In any event, many of that body of work are long discarded, though a few have survived. These were part of a group resurrected from a storage closet not long ago.

Charles Starkweather, oil on panel, 2004

The first portrait is from a photo of  an infamous serial killer named Charles Starkweather. In the late 1950s he and his girlfriend terrorized rural Nebraska, killing about a dozen people, including her family. Their crimes electrified the nation with daily screaming headlines about each killing until they were eventually captured. Starkweather was convicted as the killer and executed in 1959. His girlfriend was convicted as an accessory and imprisoned for almost two decades before being paroled. Like many in similar situations Starkweather was a loner/outsider who had been bullied by many until his rage eventually boiled over. In this image, taken from a photo online, my take on him was how vague and unfocused he seemed. There seemed to me to be emptiness behind a false facade. Although he was apparently not psychotic, some sources say he was convinced that he was immune to any law or authority. Perhaps.

Aileen Wuornos, oil on panel, 2004

Another infamous criminal was Aileen Wuornos, a serial killer in Florida. She shot and killed seven men around 1990 while working as a prostitute. When arrested she claimed rape in each case, either committed or threatened, although she later recanted. Her mugshot, which I used for source material, seemed to show an unrepentant and actually rather amused woman with dead-looking eyes. She was eventually convicted of six murders and executed in 2002. Female serial killers are rare, and Wuornos' crimes were particularly brutal; she shot each victim multiple times. Considering the level of violence in her crimes, it's clear that her rage and mental imbalance were both enormous. To my eyes she looked almost demonic, yet ordinary. (Her life was adapted into the movie, Monster.)

Mary Kay, oil on panel, 2004

Although not a violent criminal like the two above, the woman in the painting to the right is Mary Kay Letourneau, who was certainly notorious n her own right. In the late 1990s she was a teacher who was convicted of having sex with a 12 year old student in one of her classes. While in jail, compounding matters, she gave birth to the boy's child. When released and under a no-contact order she was caught with the boy again and imprisoned for rape of a child. Upon her release in 2004, she and the student (who had reached majority) actually married and seem now to be living out happy lives. This image of her was primarily an exploration of her complex expression, which spoke to me of sadness, weariness, resignation perhaps. She seems to know that we will never understand her, never accept her behavior, and yet she is somehow defiant. A challenging face.



These portraits were not prompted by the sensational nature of the crimes or the strangeness of the individuals. The reason for these and a number of others was simply availability of the images, horrifying yet fascinating stories, and the faces themselves. Although these people are not physically grotesque, their lives and behaviors definitely were, by almost any definition. Goya made pictures of grotesque people, da Vinci too. So it has always seemed to me that even the most grotesque, repellent, or ugly humans still have the ability to fascinate.