Laurina Paperina Explains How to Kill the Artists

By Flavorwire Staff

March 9, 2011

Italian artist Laurina Paperina has been killing her idols for the last four years in a series of drawings titled How to Kill the Artists. Banksy’s rat takes a hit out on him, Bjork drives a chainsaw into Matthew Barney, and Marina Abramovic runs into her lover one too many times. But Paperina, whose real name Laura Scottini, slays her art world heroes more as an homage than anything malicious, and with each crime scene comes a witty nod to art history. Holed up in her bedroom in the small Italian town of Mori, Paperina infuses her clever videos, paintings, installations and illustrations with pop culture references, political commentary, and American humor culled from the internet. We caught up with her for a brief Q&A and a sampling of her best art murders after the jump.

Flavorpill: Who is Laurina Paperina?

Laurina Paperina: Laurina Paperina is an alien, with a duck body and a human head! Laurina lives in Duckland, and born in 1980…maybe.

FP: How do you decide who your murder victims will be?

LP: Usually the victims of my works are famous artists, artists that are very cool in the art world, or artists that I really admire. So it’s like saying, “Yes, I love you, but I kill you!” Maybe it’s a little bit Freudian.

FP: Who do you think would win in a fight — Banksy or Barry McGee?

LP: That’s an easy answer: Banksy is an invisible man, Barry McGee is not an invisible man, so Barry wins for this reason! It is an unequal battle.

FP: Is any artist off limits in your drawings or videos?

LP: Never, ever! There is no “off limits” in my work.

FP: Would you ever kill non-artists, like politicians? Berlusconi by a bunch of underage girls?

LP: Yeah, perhaps it would be fun to do it. But I don’t admire Italian politicians, and they do not amuse me, so this will never happen.

FP: If an artist “killed” you with your own artwork, how would you prefer to die?

LP: That would be amazing [if another artist killed me]! My death could be done in so many ways, I guess. I’d be curious to see how another artist would kill me. Maybe crushed under a huge hot-dog?

FP: Who will you will “kill” next?

LP: It is a surprise!

Click through below to check out a slideshow of Paperina’s work.