Gerald Scarfe: I Think I See Violence All Around Me

Overview

The sheer ferocity of a Scarfe cartoon, stripping his subjects of any human dignity and reducing them to a kind of sub-animal level, provokes a violent reaction in many people. "I expected to find myself working with a suppurating sore," said one of the animators on this film, "but he's not like that at all..." Even his victims, when they meet the artist face to face, are often surprised to find themselves in the presence of such a mild, gentle sort of person. In this disturbing, at times horrifying film, Gerald Scarfe may not solve the riddle of his own conflicting nature but he certainly casts a blinding light on it.