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Lloyd Kaufman and the Troma Team wrote
and directed The Lunachick's new video for their hit song "Say
What You Mean". Word on the street is that you can catch it on
MTV's 120 Minutes
this coming Sunday Night (12 to 2am EST, 12/13/99). Toxie
and Kabukiman make guest appearances in the video! Sources say
that there is an "Anti-Troma" version of the video, with Toxie,
Kabukiman and a few other bits cut out of it. So if you see Toxie
on MTV, tell us! The Lunachicks also appear on the soundtrack for
Troma's
newest movie, "Terror Firmer".
Also, while Lloyd was in Stockholm a few weeks
back he directed an Entombed music video for their song
"Seeing Red". " It should also be on MTV in a while, so
watch for it! Entombed are also the geniuses behind the
theme song for "Terror Firmer", "Amazing Grace ".
Art:
It aint always pretty
by
Lloyd Kaufman
Greetings from the set of
Citizen Toxie. Principal photography is nearly complete and I
feel confident that this will be the best Toxic Avenger movie
yet. It feels great to be making a movie. It's one of the few
times when I can remove myself from the ugly distractions of the
world with out having to rely on chemicals. However, there are
times when some unpleasant event sneaks under the radar, as happened
this week. This time it took the form of the most dreaded of forms,
government sanctioned censure of the arts.
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Will
Keenan and Trent Haaga create
a special blend of screen magic in TERROR FIRMER
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"The government, in
my opinion, has no business funding the arts. Not because I don't
think it's their role, but because like anything else, once this
elitist government gets involved they fuck everything up."
-Lloyd Kaufman
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By now, most people I would assume
have heard about the mess going on at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The
museum is about to open a show called Sensations, featuring work from
the heavily promoted Saatchi collection. The art is characterized by its
supposedly bold, grizzly nature. A dead cow, sliced into one foot thick
portions, each portion suspended in it's own Plexiglas frame. A cast of
a head, made from the artist frozen blood. A dead shark suspended in a
tank of formaldehyde. This is no Grandma Mosses or Norman Rockwell happy
art, this is raw, in-your-face art. I saw this show a few years ago when
it was running in London. To be honest, I really did not think much of
it. Our fans send us art work all the time that is more passionate and
original (see The Museum of Tromatic
Arts!) There was nothing there that was very different from the collections
of props and special effects elements left over from any Troma movie.
If gory, bloody body parts are to you liking, save yourself the trek into
Brooklyn and go see Terror
Firmer (opening October 29 in LA).
Among the collection is a painting by Chris Ofili called "The Holy Virgin
Mary"? It shows the Virgin, surrounded by cut outs of genitals from a
pornographic magazine. The final touch is a clump of elephant dung flung
on the canvas. As one can imagine, the thought police are freaking out.
Our Fuher, Mayor Guiliani, is leading the battle against Sensations with
Cardinal O'Conner.
Can
you tell the difference between the daring, shocking independently produced
and financed art and the over exposed dull art sponsored by a big corporation?
The government, in my opinion,
has no business funding the arts. Not because I don't think it's their
role, but because like anything else, once this elilist government gets
involved they fuck everything up.In a perfect world, the government would
fund the arts, encourage free expression and education unconditionally.
I honestly believe the only reason the government is involved in the arts
is so they can have punching bag, something to get the masses behind them
so when they neglect the big issues no one will notice. Despite this,
I do feel that once the government commits to funding the arts, they can
not simply withhold money whenever they wish. Our leaders sold us the
idea of public funding for the arts on the premises that this was the
best way art and culture can be expressed and experienced by everybody,
no matter where or how they live. Instead it has been twisted and corrupted
by the very politicians we elect. The artists who do benefit from public
funding are few and far between, and are only those who are sectioned
by the cultural elite. This is fitting, because the museums are, now more
than ever, the domain of the rich, white, powerful males.
Perhaps I would be a little more enthused about government funding of
the arts if I knew the museum were not squandering the money. And by squandering,
I don't mean spending it on questionable art, I mean squandered on the
bloated salaries for the upper elitist echelons who the show. An upper
management job at an art museum comes with a salary of one hundred thousand
dollars plus. Meanwhile the buildings cleaning lady is scraping by on
poverty wages. The Mayor may close the Museum, but who is he really punishing?
Not the fat cats in the paneled board rooms. What they earn there is chump
change to them. But Consuela and her coworkers are out on their ass, and
that seems to suit Rudy just fine.
Troma
founder, and TERROR FIRMER director Lloyd Kaufman,
will always have a lasting impression on the art world.
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An excellent example of how this
evil game is played can be seen in the Sensations . Saatchi, and English
billionaire ad man, has one of the largest private art collections in
England. When the collection was on display in London, it received no
public funding. Not because of its content, but because it is a private
collection and the Parliament saw no reason in helping increase the value
of a private art collection. When the Brooklyn Museum decided they wanted
to stage the show, they need additional funding to make it happen. They
turned to swap meet of the rich and famous, Christie's for sponsorship.
Saatchi, an expert in advertising and manipulating the media has already
inflated his collects importance. Even Philippe de Montebello, director
the The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (who has made being a pompous snot
bag into an art) has come out to declare the art in this collection is
quite sub-par. But the Saatchi manipulation machine in addition to the
predictable reaction from our incoherent Mayor and Cardinal has now made
the collection some of the most valuable in the Western world. When it
comes time for the collection to go on the auction block, no will benefit
more than Sattchi and his sponsor Christie's.
If you are a young artist, struggling
to get someone interested in your work, if you are a small gallery or
museum, barely a blip on the mainstream radar screen, such attention and
press would be a dream come true. But these independents of the art world
will never get the notice they deserve. They have to align themselves
with people who wield the power and money before they are invited to the
party. Van Gogh knew that and blew his brains out. He was the Troma of
his age! The venues that give an artist a place to show their work are
run by people who know not about art or history, but about money, finance.
A museum's director may not need to know a Rembrant when he sees one,
but he must have lots of the right connections, the sort of friends who
have deep pockets. The Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC should have
installed an artist or historian as its director. Instead the snotty bastards
who run the place just appointed a rich Wall Street Wheeler Dealer to
control our nations cultural, artistic and anthropological repository.
Jefferson and Van Buren must be shitting in their wigs.
This whole mess is such a non-issue.
It's mind boggling that our "leaders" and the media are spending
any time on this at all. But what really pisses me off is that they think
we are assholes, that we are stupid and do not see through their pathetic
charade. And can we really blame them? We have given them no reason to
think otherwise. We let them play their little mind fucks on us and we
never once raise an objection. Well, not anymore. Here's your chance to
tell them all, the Mayor, the Cardinal, the US Congress, the media, even
that pasty spineless Clinton. Here's your chance to tell them "fuck
you!". We are not stupid, you are not fooling us. We see right through
you, deep inside to your diseased, black hearts. You suck!
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