Artist Defends Dimebag Murder Painting

Dimebag was playing in Ohio with Damageplan on December 8, 2004, when crazed fan Nathan Gale opened fire, killing the star and three others before being shot dead by police. A few months later Sanford revealed his painting of the event, leading to outbursts or hate mail and death threats. The work is up for sale for the second time this weekend, leading to an upsurge in fury from Dimebag fans.

Now Sanford has spoken out about his motives. "Most of the emails were cursing me out while accusing me of crimes ranging from poor taste to exploiting the death of Dimebag. I guess I'm guilty of both.," he says in a blog. "When I made the painting the reaction of Dimebag's fans wasn't on my mind. I was interested in this tragedy as a historical event. Normally the industry is able to define newsworthy events with an image or video. In our media-saturated world it was without a defining image." - more on this story

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