Did Jerome know that the paintings he was appropriating were human remains from the Strathmore Strangler?

At the climax of the movie Art School Confidential, Jerome, the disillusioned art student, takes the paintings of the old drunk Jimmy and enters them in an art show. They turn out to be gruesome collages made out of human remains that the undercover cop immediately recognizes as the work if the Strathmore Strangler. Did Jerome recognise what the paintings were made of? If so, did he not care about the risk (being upset over rejection by Audrey, maybe?), or if not, was he really that oblivious to what others recognized almost immediately? I feel like I am missing something obvious...