Notorious criminal Charles Bronson's Salvador Dali-inspired prison artworks to go on sale after discovery in gallery drawer

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

Works made by life sentence-serving Charles Bronson show admiration for Salvador DaliClick on the picture to see a selection of works

An art gallery owner who says a set of postcards which have surfaced in a drawer are the work of Charles Bronson has pledged to exhibit and sell the works, apparently painted and sketched to pass the time in the notorious prisoner’s cell, as a fundraiser for the families of his victims.

Signed and embellished with the note “a Bronson creation”, each painting, procured by Gabrielle du Plooy, of Zebra One Gallery, includes the address of the prison where they were made and the repeatedly violent inmate’s identification number, 1314.

Bronson is believed to have changed his name to Charles Salvador in an apparent tribute to Salvador Dali and an attempt to distance himself from a spate of prison incidents which have seen him spend the past 36 years of his life sentence in solitary confinement.

“They are ridiculous but you can certainly see the influence of Salvador Dali,” says a "stunned" du Plooy, who was unaware that her father had acquired the works while carrying out framing for the now-closed Bedlam Bar in Hampstead.

“It was a very dark and dingy bar with loads of mad artwork on the walls.

“You walked in and it was quite literally bedlam – there were chains and skulls everywhere.

“We were doing all their framing for them and we were given these postcards.”

Interest is expected to be keen for the sale, which follows an auction of Bronson’s paintings - described as “twisted” by the Daily Mirror - last year.

An exhibition of Bronson's art in east London, The Death of Charles Bronson, opened earlier this year. But curators will need to be vigilant given that one of the works on display – a £1,000 work titled Beast of Insanity – was stolen from the show.

Bronson, who is currently incarcerated in HM Full Sutton prison in York, compared himself to Rembrandt in the wake of the robbery, warning the thief: "Enjoy it, and pray that I never catch up with you.”

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Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk//art517802-notorious-criminal-charles-bronson-salvador-dali-inspired-prison-artworks-to-go-on-sale-after-discovery-in-gallery-drawer