An examination of the controversial work of New York shock art painter and performance artist Joe Coleman, whose act includes biting off the heads of live mice while wired with explosives. It is the depiction of a manic moralist, who will very likely soon be promoted from subculture to established artist status: It is the portrait of an American actionist who diagnoses (and exorcizes) the ills of society in himself--and who uses his extremism and contradictions to sketch a remarkably clear picture of the world.