Former KLF Dude Dismembers Your Childhood Memories

Regular readers know that Idolator loves dance-pop provocateurs the KLF, and ever since KLF members Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty “disbanded” the musical end of their cheeky program in 1992, they’ve been jamming their thumbs into the eyes of the art world, both together and separately. Cauty’s most recent exhibition at the Aquarium Gallery in London, inspired by his teenage son, has produced a series of paintings that take the slapstick comedy of the Looney Tunes characters into the avert-your-eyes realm of splatterpunk horror. And anyone who’s ever wanted to see that damn Tweety get his will appreciate Cauty’s gross-out vigor.

The gruesome pictures include children’s cartoon favourite Daffy Duck having his head blown off by a gun-wielding Bugs Bunny, as blood is sprayed everywhere.

Another violent picture shows famous cartoon cat and mouse duo Tom and Jerry as never before – with Tom the cat chopping Jerry into small pieces in a pool of blood and guts.

A third brutal piece of artwork features long-suffering cartoon cat Sylvester with a mouth covered in blood, having finally taken a bite out of his bird nemesis Tweety Pie.

The controversial characters, all taken from the popular Looney Tunes series, are included in artwork described as ‘unrelenting acts of blood and discomfort never previously witnessed on the Cartoon Network’.

Really? Have Cauty or his gallery handlers actually watched any Adult Swim shows? Or any anime? Or an episode of The Simpsons with an “Itchy and Scratchy” bit? (Or seen the work of Al Columbia, who’s been mining similar “old-school animation meets modern ultraviolence” aesthetic for years now?) Love it or hate it–it seems kind of facile as “commentary” on our ol’ hyper-violent society goes–I’m not 100 percent firm on the legality of swiping Warner Bros. copyrights for the purposes of satirical art. I just hope no high-priced lawyers come calling on Cauty, especially after burning up his potential defense fund when he torched that million pounds in filthy KLF lucre.

Cartoon Characters Brutally Killed In New Bugs Bunny And Daffy Duck Art Exhibition [Telegraph/HT: Ned Raggett]