Splatter was an exhibition shown between October and November 2008, focusing on “the plausible impossibility of death in the mind of cartoon characters”. The featured works depicted well-known Looney Tunes characters meeting a gory demise in hyper-violent scenes unshackled from their usual cartoon laws of ultimate invincibility.
The idea for Splatter came from Jimmy’s then 15-year-old son Harry who suggested to show in his artwork what the classic cartoons did not portray – the actual blood and gore consequences of what really happens to Looney Tunes characters if their cartoons were given a bit more “realism”.
The Cauty animated collection will be degraded, overlaid & looped, fractured, and repeated on multiple LCD screens, presenting the viewer with unrelenting acts of bloody, cartoon violence, which, in cartoon law, ultimately cannot cause fatal injury.
This show by jCauty&Son warrants laugher, discomfort and aims to provoke thought on violence and our media saturated culture.<span class="su-quote-cite">'Splatter' Press Release</span>
The exhibition opened at London’s Aquarium Gallery in October 2008 to rather positive feedback from visitors.
The three centre pieces of Splatter were showing Bugs Bunny firing a gun at Daffy Duck and blowing off his head, Tom chopping up Jerry into small bits, and Sylvester the cat with a bloody mouth from eating Tweety Pie. Further exhibits pictured Spike the dog having shred Tom to pieces, and the Roadrunner being crushed from having a 23-ton weight dropped onto him, among others.
Also shown at the exhibition was a 6.5 minute long movie featuring various short sequences from classic Looney Tunes episodes, albeit usually with an alternate and mostly gruesome climax.
Both the movie and the images were redrawn by Jimmy, and despite his artwork using well-known cartoon characters he did not seem to worried about legal repercussions from Warner.
Sales & Political Statement
Apart from the Aquarium Gallery’s exhibition all images were also available from the jCauty&SON website in various sizes, ranging from 15x17cm mini cells sold at £14.99 to limited 122x112cm satin photo rags for £750 each.
Other exhibits sold included “life-size” resin sculptures, plastic toys in glass domes, jigsaw puzzles, ceramic mugs, badges, branded clothing, as well as a DVD of the aforementioned movie and an accompanying poster.
Mostly going unnoticed by audience members both young and old, the indivual pieces’ official names – Hooding (Sylvester & Tweety Pie), Aimpoint (Tom & Jerry), Operation Vigilant Justice (Bugs & Duffy) etc. – made reference to American campaigns and operations conducted in Iraq during the post-9/11 War on Terror, as well as military terminology and forms of torture.
Jimmy had previously featured Bugs Bunny wearing a dynamite belt and blowing himself up in a series of prints titled Bomber Bunny.
25% of all profits were announced to be donated to Amnesty International.
Jako je stasno kada je macka ubila pticu i pas spike ubijo toma!
This is from someone who don’t watch bad cartoons like Dora.
This is when somebody can go above and beyond to make a Creepypasta type of art and have it be popular.
A good mix of classic cartoons, and a small horror aspect. The animation is okay-ish, but it’s more charming.
I have about 100 imagine 15×17 off this WB splatter I would like to know if they have any value