COPEHNAGEN—Controversy-seeking Danish-based artist Marco Evaristti has convinced a convict on death row in Texas to allow Evaristti to grind up his body and feed it to goldfish for an artwork should he be executed as planned, reports the Art Newspaper.

"My aim is to first deep freeze Gene's body and then make fish food out of it. Visitors to my exhibition will be able to feed goldfish with it," said Evaristti, who has visited Gene Hathorn, 47, a convicted murderer, in prison several times.

He added that he does not think the work is unethical. "The real problem is legally killing people," he said.

Hathorn has been awaiting execution since being found guilty of murdering his father, stepmother, and stepbrother in 1985.

Chilean-born Evaristti has courted controversy with his work before. In 2000, he addressed mortality and the dark side of human nature by showing live goldfish in 10 electric blenders and inviting visitors to the exhibition to switch them on. In 2004, he explored issues of territory and environmental protection by painting an iceberg in Greenland red.

Hathorn's friend James Beathard was also convicted for the murders after Hathorn testified against him, believing he would be spared as a result. Prosecutors reneged on the deal, and Hathorn recanted his testimony, but it was too late to beat a 30-day deadline following Beathard's conviction. Beathard was executed by lethal injection in 1999.

According to Evaristti, U.S. lawyers doubt whether Hathorn's testament, which bequeaths his body to the artist, is valid.