[ACandyRose Logo] A Personal view of the Internet Subculture
Surrounding the JonBenet Ramsey Murder case

[IMAGE] [IMAGE]
[IMAGE]
[IMAGE]
This web page is part of a series covering found materials regarding individuals, items or events that apparently became part of what is commonly known as the vortex of the JonBenet Ramsey murder case Christmas night 1996. The webmaster of this site claims no inside official Boulder police information as to who has been interviewed, investigated, the outcome or what information is actually considered official evidence. These pages outline found material which can include but not limited to materials found in books, articles, the Internet, transcripts, depositions, legal documents, Internet discussion forums, graphics or photos, media reports, TV/Radio shows about the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. Found materials are here for historical archive purposes. (www.acandyrose.com - acandyrose@aol.com)
This webpage series is for historical archive and educational purposes on found materials


"Daddy's Little Hooker"
10' X 25' Mural by Paul Hidalgo
Hall of Sibell Wolle Fine Arts Building


JonBenet Ramsey Murder Case
Paul Hidalgo
"Daddy's Little Hooker" Artist
Individual Date Reference Key ? Gave Prints Gave Blood Gave Hair Handwriting Got DNA Cleared or Alibi
Paul Hidalgo
(Littleton, Colorado)
(Daddy's Little Hooker)
(10'X25' mural at Sibell Wolle Fine Arts Bldg at Colorado University)
03-12-1997 DOI pg146
DOI pg147
DOI pg202
--- --- --- --- --- --- Artist protected
under First
Amendment Issue

John Ramsey wrote letter

CHAIN OF EVENTS 1997


1997-03-13: JonBenet mural at CU sparks furor

http://www.boulderdailycamera.com/extra/ramsey/1997/03/13-1.html
JonBenet mural at CU sparks furor
By CAROL ROWE
Camera Staff Writer
March 13, 1997

A 10-foot-by-25-foot mural presenting three beauty pageant portraits of JonBenet Ramsey beneath the words "Daddy's Little Hooker" sparked anger and controversy at the University of Colorado this week.

The attention-getting display by CU senior Paul Hidalgo in the hall of Sibell Wolle Fine Arts Building led an unidentified male student to rip the pictures off the wall Wednesday morning. It was the second time the mural has been defaced since going up on Sunday.

"I'm taking it down because it's garbage to put up "Daddy's Little Hooker' and pictures of a dead little girl," said the baseball-capped student who ripped the color photocopies from the wall and put them in a nearby trash can.

Six-year-old JonBenet was found strangled Dec. 26 in her family's Boulder home, about eight hours after being reported kidnapped. The murder of the child beauty pageant competitor has generated international attention.

Wednesday afternoon, the artist replaced the pictures in the CU exhibit, which is expected to stay up the rest of the week.

Hidalgo, 21, of Littleton said he wanted to address the issue of child beauty pageants with his artwork.

"I think the ethics and morality behind these pageants must be questioned. Exposing young and impressionable children to these adult and superficial institutions is a terrible thing," he said.

He said he regrets some people's interpretation that he is being critical of JonBenet.

"I feel very bad about what happened to JonBenet," he said. "I don't think she is responsible for a damned thing. What bothers me is, this is a rich and powerful family and they're manipulating all the resources for their benefit."

Family spokesman Pat Korten issued a statement that said: "Trying to sully the good name of a wonderful 6-year-old child who lost her life in a horrible way is not merely tasteless: It is disgusting and vulgar."

But the tearing down of the photos appalled many onlookers. "There go your First Amendment rights," said one passer-by.

"It's not anybody's right to come onto this university and rip something off the wall," said Carolyn McDowell, 59, a retired accountant from Gunbarrel who stopped to look at the mural about 9 a.m. McDowell took a snapshot of the student who tore down the pictures and later talked to police about it.

CU Police Sgt. Gary Arai said late Wednesday the suspect hadn't been arrested, but could be charged with theft or criminal mischief. An arrest has not yet been made in the earlier incident, either.

"Most of the artists here don't exactly enjoy looking at it, but we support (the artist's right) to put it up," said fine arts student Shea McDonald, 22.

McDonald said she also was glad to see the various written responses to the mural - two notes tacked to the wall from people who were offended by the display. Another said, "Thank you for not backing down to another attempt to censor artists."

Merrill Lessley, interim chairman of the Fine Arts Department, said the artwork falls under the constitutional protection of the First Amendment.

"Although I personally find the artwork to be hurtful, the student artist has followed appropriate departmental procedures which routinely allow student artists to schedule wall space for their artwork," he said. "For centuries, artists have taken on provocative subjects. This work is no different."

CHAIN OF EVENTS 2000


[Death of Innocence]2000-03-18: “Death of Innocence” written by John and Patsy Ramsey

DOI Page 146

"Like a hailstorm continuously pelting our house, another blow hit Patsy and me when a University of Colorado art student created a collage of blown-up pictures of JonBenet under the heading, "Daddy's Little Hooker."

In the entry hall of the Sibell Wolle Fine Arts Building is a display area used for student work. Usually senior projects or personal art exhibits are posted there. This art student took JonBenet's picture from a national magazine cover, as well as other reproductions of her that appeared in a multitude of tabloids, enlarged them, and assembled the pictures in a collage that included lots of scribbled epitaphs. It created a grotesque portrayal of JonBenet.

The very large display ran the length of the hall in the Fine Arts Building. The newspapers rushed to photograph the distasteful display, and the story about the collage made national television news. It hurt us so deeply to see our daughter portrayed in this horrible manner. With John Andrew as a student at CU, the damage seemed even more horrendous.

A number of students had the same offended reaction and tore much of the display down, but the University of Colorado would not act. A university spokesman responded publicly with the explanation that the student was expressing free speech and "artistic integrity," and that the university could not ask him to remove his work. Because he was an art student, the whole sickening display could go back up again in the name of free speech. We were distraught that such an offensive portrayal of our child had been erected in the fist place, and on top of that, the faculty seemed to find the work acceptable. I later heard that the exhibit finally came down only because university officials feared that the use of previously copyrighted photographs could end up in a legal confrontation. I received a particularly hard letter from a man in Denver during all this which said, "If you're any kind of father, you'll tear that down." I had wanted desperately to destroy the grotesque exhibit myself, but knew that would be the media spectacle of the decade.

I decided that maybe the best thing I might do was to write the young man a letter and try to let him know how his cruel and heartless exhibit had

DOI Page 147

affected Patsy and me. In my letter, I told him that he was young now but one day he would probably be a parent. Only when he was a parent himself would he realize how deeply people love their children. Then he might understand how much he had hurt us. I sent the letter but never received a response from the "artist."

Throughout the month of February, stories appeared that either intimated or claimed outright that I had in someway sexually abused my daughter. The art student smearing JonBenet's pictures on the wall of the art building played right into this escalating rumor."


(SNIP)


DOI Page 202

"John and I were both amazed at the number of transients who lived in close proximity to our Boulder home. We had learned that the house across the alley was occupied by a house-sitter during that Christmas. This man disappeared within days after the twenty-sixth. Who was he? Why had he left so quickly?
The young CU art student who had created the "Daddy's Little Hooker" display had once lived only four doors to the south of us in a student rental house for a period of time. Unfortunately, we were realizing how transient our University Hill neighborhood really was. Some neighbors rented their extra rooms and basements to students and others who moved in and out frequently. We could only hope the police were paying close attention."

CLICK HERE: Flight 755 15th Street Main Directory



Home 1998 to 2007 ACandyRose©
E-Mail