Cincinnati isn't the first city to express outrage and contempt for an artist suspected of photographing bodies at a morgue.

        After a Mount Auburn man was indicted Monday for abuse of a corpse, Colorado authorities — and an artist they convicted — shared an eerily similar story.

        In April 1997 Colorado investigators caught artist James M. Thompson with photographs much like the ones Thomas Condon is accused of snapping at the Hamilton County morgue.

Condon

Thompson

        The way Cincinnati investigators discovered Mr. Condon and his photographs, and the community outrage that exploded soon after in the Queen City, are nearly the mirror image of Mr. Thompson, his community and his story.

        Both emulated the same controversial artist, Andres Serrano, faced sharp criticism from the community and shot similar photographs.

        What remains to be seen is whether the endings will be the same.

        Mr. Thompson spent a year in jail on misdemeanor charges of abuse of a corpse — or treating remains in a way that would outrage normal family sensibilities.

        “It was a lot like what you have out there,” Mr. Thompson said from his Colorado home last week. “I was very lucky that no families saw the photos. I know exactly the shoes he's (Condon) standing in, trying to defend art and free speech.”

        But Mr. Condon, 29, and morgue pathologist Jonathan Tobias, 31, could face a tougher penalty if they are convicted of the 12 felony charges — gross abuse of a corpse — of which they are accused. That type of legal community standard doesn't exist in Colorado.

        Mr. Thompson — who uses the professional name J.T. Colfax — was caught trying to take a pack of photos from a developing store in 1997 without paying for them. When authorities opened them, they were stunned.

        More than 80 photographs on three rolls of film contained images of a dead woman with a party noisemaker in her mouth and others posed with signs that said, “Happy Halloween” and “Time's Up.”

        In Cincinnati, authorities learned of Mr. Condon's work after a film processing company employee realized the negatives showed dead people and then called police.

        Mr. Thompson says he started following Mr. Condon's case on the Internet after some friends e-mailed him about it.

        “I thought, "Been there, done that,'” he said, adding, “It's very interesting to watch this from this distant perspective.”

        In the early 1990s, controversial artist Andres Serrano presented a series of photographs he produced entitled “The Morgue: Cause of Death.” In a 1993 interview with Newsday, Mr. Serrano said he befriended a pathologist who let him photograph “with the understanding that the people were not to be identifiable.”

        In his initial statement to police explaining his motives, Mr. Thompson cited the controversial artist as did Mr. Condon's supporters.

        Mr. Condon's lawyer, H. Louis Sirkin, says the photos were taken as part of an “artistic exploration” of death. And friends say the Cincinnati artist was strongly influenced by Mr. Serrano's work.

        Mr. Thompsongained access to funeral homes, morgues and mortuaries across the region.

        “He worked for one of the body removal services in town,” says Lt. Jon Priest, who heads the Denver homicide unit. ""He picked people up from nursing homes and hospitals and was offered a lot of autonomy in doing his job.

        “He would lay people out in a situation where he could turn their heads, open their mouths, make them smile and pose them with signs.”

        Cincinnati investigators say Mr. Condon obtained access to the Hamilton County morgue by be friending Dr. Tobias, a pathologist.

        Police suspect Mr. Condon took 50-some photographs over six months of bodies in various stages of autopsy. One photograph, similar to that of Mr. Thompson's party noisemaker image, showed a woman with an old-fashioned key in her mouth.

        After serving his sentence, Mr. Thompson now works at a bar. He has mixed feelings about the photographs he took.

        “I'd like to see the photos Mr. Condon took, but at the same time I can't really defend doing that to a family,” he says. “... I think there is art to be had in this area, but it's just best to leave it alone.

        “You always know in the back of your mind that this is wrong.”
       James Thompson: “There is art to be had in this area but it's just best to leave it alone.”
       Thomas Condon Photos part of an “artistic exploration” of death, lawyer says.

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