Guns
Why did people invent weapons to be used by human beeings to effectively kill other human beeings? What does this kind of invention mean to you and me? What do you think about guns?
These questions gave me the impulse to work with these things as form and idea in both a street performance and in a theatrical installation that I called Judas is with us in the Crypt at Chelsea College of Art in London in 2009.
All the guns seen in the pictures above are casts from the same mould. The mould was made from a full size replika of an AK47 rifle. The first gun pictured on top of this page is from a photo of the performance 13 statements about guns , that took place in Brick Lane in London july 2009. More about the performance 13 statements about guns, can be seen here and here. The gun used in the performance was later bandaged, as it is seen pictured in 3 guns and Martyr above. The bandaged performance gun was given the role as martyr in the installation Judas is with us, in the Crypt at Chelsea College of Art, where it was a part of the MAFA final exhibition in september 2009. The black gun and the performance gun are made from plaster, fabric and paint. The wax guns are all made from pure parafin wax with candle wick right through the whole lenght of the guns. They are mounted on metal holders. The first candle gun was on show as a single piece in the group show Police and Violence at The Sasson Gallery in London in june 2009.
I later decided to make 13 of them for the MAFA show. The number 13 was given from the number of statements collected in the performance13 statements about guns in Brick Lane. The13 kalashnikov candles was later exhibited in the groupshow Gift at 10 Vyner street Gallery in London, december 2009.
making guns in the foundry
