Exonerated Ohio Man Earns Fame For Prison-Created Artwork, Advocacy for Wrongfully Convicted

Outcome of his case 'like shooting a marble to the moon'

Dean Gillispie, an exonerated Ohio man, peruses some of his prison-created artwork on display at New York's Museum of Modern Art in April 2021. He and independent filmmaker Barry Rowen went there to shoot footage for a documentary about his life. Photo courtesy of Barry Rowen

Wrongfully imprisoned in a 6-by-10 foot Ohio prison cell, Dean Gillispie let his mind and his artwork transport him to an even smaller world.

He converted junk into miniature versions of places he wished he could be.