Tommy Turner

Overview

An artist working in print, performance, photography, and film, New York native Tommy Turner is considered a key figure of Downtown No Wave. In the mid-1980s, he directed arresting small gauge films that retain their ability to inspire shock, awe, and revulsion, while conveying a biting sense of humor and incisive social commentary. Turner's concise oeuvre encompasses black magic, domestic dysfunction, addiction, rock ‘n’ roll, demagoguery, murder, and wasted teenhood, often addressed through gleefully graphic, lo-fi special effects that swerve between clinical detachment and sardonic irreverence. (Bio image shows a still from Rat Trap, made in collaboration with Tessa Hughes.)