Can someone help?
lli...@my-dejanews.com
to my 14-year-old son. I opened it and found a disturbing book called:
"Killer Art." On the cover is a man bleeding. Inside the book are
disturbing images of art made out of skin, people stuck with hooks, and
people bleeding. Is anyone familiar with this book? Should I take this
as a warning sign that my teenager may need help?
--== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==--
---Share what you know. Learn what you don't.---
kyle
Find out who his friends are ... where he goes ... what he does. Be
discreet. Do not confront him until you have good information about these
things. Build a personal rapport with him ... take him with you to sporting
and entertainment events, etc. Consult with school and church
professionals.
Wolfgang I. Al
lli...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> I came home the other day and found a package from Amazon.com addressed
> to my 14-year-old son. I opened it and found a disturbing book called:
> "Killer Art." On the cover is a man bleeding. Inside the book are
> disturbing images of art made out of skin, people stuck with hooks, and
> people bleeding. Is anyone familiar with this book? Should I take this
> as a warning sign that my teenager may need help?
>
> --== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==--
> ---Share what you know. Learn what you don't.---
Don't worry, Amazon did not rate it 5 stars because it is shocking, satanic,
et cetera. Take a look at these reviews:
R.U. EDDY, New Orleans culture critic
"Powers' books leaps into the imagination like a kind
of rock 'n' roll Armaggedon."
GEOFFREY FIEGER, Legal counsel for Dr. Jack Kervorkian
and unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Michigan.
"If you are seriously requesting to use Dr.
Kervorkian's paintings in your book...I respectively advise you F*** off."
TOM SNYDER, Co-creator and executive producer of Comedy
Central's Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
"This book shook me up because it reminded me of the
many times I've wanted to do something odd, knew in my heart it was of
little value to me or anyone else, but decided in a
moment of semi-conscious weakness to call it 'art' so I
could do it anyway. This strategy works. No one has ever called me on it.
Lynn Powers reminds me that experiments are
experiments, but that I want to believe that art is
somehow noble."
POPPY Z. BRITE
"Seeking examples of art that can hurt or kill people,
Lynn Powers has uncovered many amusing stories, but what pleases me most
about this book is the literalism one must employ
to find art 'dangerous' to its audience: Sculptures
that fall on you, performance artists who beat you up if you try to leave
the room."
Book Description
"Killer Art" is a collection of true stories about
artists who hurt or kill themselves and others.
From the Publisher
Killer Art: Art That Has Maimed, Killed or Caused
General Destruction Through the Centuries is a lavishly illustrated,
deliciously offbeat look at dozens of visual and
performing artists throughout history whose lives and
works have resulted in untold mayhem for themselves, their loved ones, and
even innocent bystanders. Most artists strive to
create new and often bizarre techniques to make their
art different. But in the process, some people get hurt. Fascinating, often
shocking, Killer Art offers a surreal but painstakingly
researched illustration of the darker side of artists
and their sometimes dysfunctional world.
From the Author
Giant umbrellas crush and electrocute two people to
death! An artist murders his wife, chops her up, paints her remains and
scatters them around town! Performance artists cut
themselves and bleed on stage! These are just some of
the true and fascinating stories compiled in Killer Art. Whether intentional
or accidental, some artists have wreaked havoc on
the art world. If you are one of those people who think
that art is boring, this book may change your perspective on the art world.
The author, Lynn Powers, kill...@aol.com , March 2,
1999
Turn you perspective on the art world upside down!
Giant umbrellas crush and electrocute two people to
death! An artist murders his wife, chops her up, paints her remains and
scatters them around town! Performance artists cut
themselves and bleed on stage! These are just some of
the true and fascinating stories compiled in "Killer Art." Whether
intentional or accidental, some artists have wreaked havoc
on the art world. If you are one of those people who
think that art is boring, this book may change your perspective on the art
world.
The author, Lynn Powers, , August 6, 1998
Turn your perspective of the art world upside down!
Giant umbrellas crush and electrocute two people to
death! An artist murders his wife, chops her up, paints her remains and
scatters them around town! Performance artists cut
themselves and bleed on stage! These are just some of
the true and fascinating stories compiled in “Killer Art.” Whether
intentional or accidental, some artists have wreaked havoc
on the art world. If you are one of these people who
think that art is boring, this book may change your perspective on the art
world!
About the Author
Growing up in Norwalk, Connecticut, author Lynn Powers
remembers a childhood that was often surreal. "It was very much like a David
Lynch movie, she remembers, referring to
the director of such bizarre film classics as "Blue
Velvet" and "Eraserhead."
"If you scratched the surface of my mundane, suburban
neighborhood," she notes, "you would find a dysfunctional world of
schizophrenics, drug users, alcoholics, murderers,
flashers and alien abductees," Powers says. She readily
admits her somewhat skewed experiences as an adolescent helped shape her
vision for her new book, "Killer Art: Art that
has Killed, Maimed and Caused General Destruction
throughout the Centuries."
After graduating from the State University ofg New York
at Purchase with a degree in sociology and visual arts, Powers' fascination
with cutting edge art and artists led her to
pursue a Masters in Art History at Virginia
Commonwealth University. Her graduate thesis, "Whatever Happened to the
Graffiti Art Movement," which examined the impact of
subway artists on the New York City gallery scene, was
ultimately published in the Journal of Popular Culture in 1996.
In 1996, she founded and directed the critically
acclaimed Kids' Film Festival of Virginia, an annual event that developed,
produced and promoted film productions targeted to
children and their families. By 1999, the festival's
success attracted a host of nationally respected speakers and panelists,
including Tom Snyder, co-creator and writer of Comedy
Central's animated series, "Dr Katz: Professional
Therapist."
Recently relocated to New Orleans, Powers says the move
was a natural one for her. "After all," she laughs, "New Orleans is a city
famous for bizarre street characters and
open-minded attitudes toward art and lifestyle. Who
knows?" she muses. "Maybe the next truly great Killer Artist is lurking in
the French Quarter somewhere!"
The publisher, Pontalba Press , March 2, 1999
It's a dysfunctional world out there!
"Killer Art: Art That Has Maimed, Killed or Caused
General Destruction Through the Centuries" is a lavishly illustrated,
deliciously offbeat look at dozens of visual and performing
artists throughout history whose lives and works have
resulted in untold mayhem for themselves, their loved ones, and even
innocent bystanders. Most artists strive to create new
and often bizarre techniques to make their art
different. But in the process, some people get hurt. Fascinating, often
shocking, Killer Art offers a surreal but painstakingly researched
illustration of the darker side of artists and their
sometimes dysfunctional world.
Excerpted from Killer Art; Art That Has Maimed, Killed
or Caused General Destruction by Lynn Powers. Copyright © 1998. Reprinted by
permission. All rights
reserved
EXCERPT: Sculpture: Being the heaviest of the fine
arts, sculpture is inherently dangerous. Bulgarian environmental artist,
Javacheff Christo, known for wrapping buildings and
islands proclaimed "I'll take the wrap" when his giant
umbrellas injured and killed two people. "The Umbrellas: Joint Project for
Japan and U.S.A." included 1,340 yellow umbrellas
in California and 1,760 blue umbrellas in Tokyo. On
October 26, 1991, a sudden 40 mile-per-hour wind uprooted a 485-pound
umbrella in Los Angeles, struck a woman and
crushed her to death against a boulder. "Out of respect
for her memory," Christo ordered the entire $26 million project to be taken
down. Just five days later, another tragedy
occurred in Japan. During the dismantling of the
umbrellas, a 51-year-old crane operator died when the arm of his crane
touched a 65,000-volt power line. The artist was
devastated by the tragedies and was reported to have
broken down and cried when he heard the news. In an interview, Christo's
wife solemnly commented, "Christo's art is like a
marriage; it's for better or worse. Painting: If you
think being an artist can be rough, try being an unemployed artist. Texan
artist, James Bradley, 45, is serving 30 years in jail for
painting his wife - after he chopped her into 21
pieces! Bradly confessed to police, "I had to shoot her because I couldn't
bear the way she talked about my painting." Bradly began
his art career after he had a car accident that left
him crippled in a wheelchair. Bradley's wife was a professional artist and
would constantly demean his work. "Give up," she would
tell him, "your work is rubbish." Bradley would always
reply that he was an abstract expressionist and she just didn't understand
his work. When he tired of sketching, he would
splash paint around the house. He would paint the
furniture, the cutlery and their toothbrushes. Eventually Suzy confided in
friends, " I'm at my wits' end. He's covering our entire
house in a layer of paint. He's ruining our home." That
was the last time her friends saw her. In a final showdown of artistic
merits in 1996, Bradley shot his wife and chopped her up
into 21 pieces in the bathtub. "It wasn't easy to paint
her body parts," he explained. "I had to wait until the blood dried. Bradley
drove around the city and threw 20 painted parts of
his wife's body out the window. Where was the last of
the 21 pieces? Bradley mounted the last piece, Suzy's head, on a piece of
wood in their back garden. Performance Art: The
award for most bloodletting would have to go to Italian
artist Franko B. Franko B is a photographer, video and film maker. He is
probably best known as a performance artist. Out
of all the performance artists represented in this
book, Franko B has shed the most blood - he has collected over ten pints of
his own blood from his performances! During one
piece, the artist lost over a pinto and a half of blood
in under 15 minutes.
Some of Franko B's performances leave him so bruised
and weakened that he cannot walk for the following week. "I am concerned
with beauty. You can use anything to make
beauty." Film: Sometimes animal actors are sacrificed
in the name of art. British artist, J.J. Charlesworth created an unusual
video installation for his final graduation show at
Goldsmith's College in July 1996. "[It] was probably
the most bankrupt and self-defeating experiment in making aggressive
statements about how the artworld works," expained
Charlesworth. Thanatochrome (A.K.A. Goldfish in a
Blender) involved a video tape of the artist placing a goldfish in a
blender, pressing a big red button and frappeing the poor
fish. The piece got Charlesworth into trouble with the
British animal rights group RSPCA because depiction of mutilation of animals
on video is a criminal offense. Asked if he had
learned a lesson from Thanatochrome the artist replied,
"There's no lesson to learn. I just like doing things that are relevant."
Art by Killers:Dr. Jack Kevorkian has acknowledged
his involvement with 100 physician assisted suicides.
Kevorkian's preoccupation with death has translated into his art works. "I
paint reality," Kevorkian has said. "And I don't paint
beautiful things like idealism because enough people do
that. I don't paint things you can hang on a wall." His paintings have been
described as depictions of cannibalism that
mocked religion. Dr. Kevorkian created a stir in March
1997 with his painting Genocide received the most notoriety because its
frame was painted with Kevorkian's blood. The
painting depicts the hands of a Nazi and a Turkish
soldier holding a decapitated head by the hair. Kevorkian says that it
represents victims of the Holocaust. "When you look at
Genocide, I don't want you to like it, I want you to
feel sick to your stomach," Kevorkian explained. In response to a letter
requesting Dr. Kevorkian to participate in this book, his
lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger responded by fax to
"respectfully f**k off." Death Museums: There are actually entire museums
devoted to death. Appropriately called the Museum of
Death, J.D. Healy and Cathee Schultz opened a
self-guided museum of exhibits relating to death in San Diego over two years
ago. "I got involved in it because I started doing
artwork with serial murderers," explained Healy. In
June 1995, Healy organized a gallery show of artworks by convicted murders,
such as Charles Manson and David Berkowitz.
"When I realized that I was able to get $2 from people,
and I had this whole collection of serialkiller art and these execution
devices . . . I thought I'd open up the basement, put all
this stuff in there, call it a museum, and charge
admission." Some people are shocked and disgusted by the museum. Schultz
defended his museum saying, "We are just showing
history . . . these things happened, some people murder
and that cannot be erased. It is a part of our common history and everybody
has to die."
If your son already is quite fond of art, don't worry at all. If your son
doesn't like art at all, I guess he just thinks this cool, something he
could show his friends. He won't turn satanic over this! Petting him for
this maybe will. He is in a period of his life when he seeks his identity.
If you protect him too much now, he might not be able to cope with difficult
situations in a later stage of his life. I don't say you should not protect
him at all! Just support him.But not too much... I know, it sounds
difficult, and it is, but parenting is not an easy job...
duck...@my-dejanews.com
complain. It's www.pontalbapress.com.
duck...@my-dejanews.com
Art" if anyone wants to complain: http://www.pontalbapress.com.
kyle
bobm...@my-dejanews.com
help. I went to Amazon and looked for this "Killer Art" book. The book is a
perfect example of the "death culture" that seduced the troubled teens in
Columbine. This trash represents itself as "art," "literature," and "satire,"
but is in reality nothing more than a glorification of the worst parts of
humanity. William Bennett (former Secretary of Education) and Dr. Alan Bloom
(author of The Closing of the American Mind) have been speaking out against
this sort of work for years. The Nazi's also made items out of human skin (I
refuse to all it art). I don't find it funny and I certainly do not think it
is something a 14 year old can understand. Your child needs YOU to help sort
through the wasteland of poluar culture. Trust yourself, if it disturbs you
it is probably disturbing him. Talk to him about it and make him understand
that this is NOT art or humor, but something that degrades the human
condition and makes life worse for all of us.
I think it also important to write to Amazon and the publishers of this book
(as well as the record/movie industry who insist on force feeding us this
trash). Tell them you to take this filth of of their catalogs and stop
peddling their pornography to our children.
God Bless.
In article <7hnr9u$hvn$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
Archbishop Mike
> I went to Amazon and looked for this "Killer Art" book. The book is a
> perfect example of the "death culture" that seduced the troubled teens
> in Columbine. This trash represents itself as "art," "literature," and
> "satire," but is in reality nothing more than a glorification of the
> worst parts of humanity.
And I suppose that the bible, with its heavy quota of murder, mayhem,
incest and outright fantasy would be a better substitute, would it?
> I think it also important to write to Amazon and the publishers of
> this book (as well as the record/movie industry who insist on force
> feeding us this trash).
Last time I checked, neither book nor record stores were holding guns to
anyone's heads compelling them to buy anything. Maybe it's a different
story in your mental hospital.
Archbishop Mike - Prophet
'Awooooooooooooooooooooooooooo~~~~~' - YJK, 31st August 1998
'I respect Mr. Ronald Reagan.' - YJK, 20th January 1999