Piss Head

Piss Head

Stuart Page is a photographer, designer, filmmaker and drummer. In 1980, he studied photography and printmaking at the Ilam School of Fine Arts in Ōtautahi Christchurch under Larence Shustak, who would become the titular subject of Page’s 2009 documentary.

Piss Head shows an ultra-gory moment as a man’s head explodes. The image is lifted from George Romero’s zombie horror Dawn of the Dead. Released in 1978, Dawn of the Dead was initially liable for seizure in the United Kingdom as part of the 1980s ‘video nasties’ panic over low-budget horror and exploitation films. It wasn’t cleared for showing in Australia and New Zealand until 1980.

The fusion of terror and trivia in this print is typical of the works Page produced following a trip through the United States in 1982. A flyer for his exhibition DRINKDRIVEDEATH juxtaposes reporting on fatal drunk-driving accidents with visceral source imagery of the horrific scenes. Akin to Andy Warhol’s Death and Disaster series, Page appropriated imagery from mass media and recontextualised it within the realm of art. Page’s title reorients Romero’s special-effect splatter as a cautionary tale about Aotearoa’s relationship to alcohol.

Adjacent to his practice as a visual artist, Page is one-third of the band The Axemen and an active member of the Aotearoa music scene. He has worked with artists on the independent label Flying Nun and several lo-fi music groups. His 2016 documentary How Bizarre: The Story of an Otara Millionaire followed musician Paul Fuemana’s rise to fame in 1995.

— Maya Love, 2023