Gummy guns, cozy tanks and other violent works of art

Jun 24, 2013

Gummy guns, cozy tanks and other violent works of art

Nick Tann 1 Comment Art, World art, Art Basel

Reactionary art inspired by violence continues to be a confrontational theme for many of today’s artists. The following works take aim at the illegal arms trade between U.S. and Mexico, domestic violence against women, recycling firearms into musical instruments, “Knitting for peace” and more.

: June 11, 2013: A visitor has a close look of an artwork by British artist Darren Lago during a preview day for the Art Basel 2013, the world’s premiere modern and contemporary art fair in Basel. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

: June 10, 2013: Handcrafted bones are placed on the National Mall as part of the art installation “One Million Bones” containing one million handcrafted bones placed as a symbolic mass grave to raise awareness of genocide and mass atrocities during a three-day event near the US Capitol in Washington. (Saul LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

: June 10, 2013: Handcrafted bones are placed on the National Mall as part of the art installation “One Million Bones” containing one million handcrafted bones placed as a symbolic mass grave to raise awareness of genocide and mass atrocities during a three-day event near the US Capitol in Washington. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 31, 2013: “Full Body Scan” by Cai Guo Quiang is displayed at the exhibition “Glasstress,” a collateral event of the 55th International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy. The 55th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia will be open to the public from the June 1 – November 24, 2013. (Photo by Marco Secchi/Getty Images)

: May 30, 2013: “Mirage” by Marc Quinn are displayed at a major exhibition collateral event of the 55th International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy. The 55th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia will be open to the public from the June 1 – November 24, 2013. (Marco Secchi/Getty Images)

: May 17, 2013: A cannon operator adjusts his earmuffs while operating the installation “Shooting into the corner” at the “Kapoor in Berlin” exhibition at the Martin Gropius Bau museum in Berlin. (Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 13, 2013: Visitors view Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi creation, painted on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, during a preview of the annual Met’s Roof Garden commission, in New York. Qureshi, who uses the nearly 8,000-square-foot open-air space as his canvas, depicts his emotional response to violence occurring in Pakistan and across the globe, by working areas with blood-like spilled and splattered red acrylic paint into patterns of lush ornamental leaves that evoke the luxuriant walled gardens that are ubiquitous in miniatures of the Mughal court and also echo the foliage of Central Park surrounding the Roof Garden. Qureshi is the first artist to create a work that is be painted directly onto the roof’s surface of the museum, encouraging visitors to walk on it as they view it. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 13, 2013: Visitors view Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi creation, painted on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, during a preview of the annual Met’s Roof Garden commission, in New York. Qureshi, who uses the nearly 8,000-square-foot open-air space as his canvas, depicts his emotional response to violence occurring in Pakistan and across the globe, by working areas with blood-like spilled and splattered red acrylic paint into patterns of lush ornamental leaves that evoke the luxuriant walled gardens that are ubiquitous in miniatures of the Mughal court and also echo the foliage of Central Park surrounding the Roof Garden. Qureshi is the first artist to create a work that is be painted directly onto the roof’s surface of the museum, encouraging visitors to walk on it as they view it. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 25, 2013: People walk next to a German Leopard 1 tank in front of the Museum of Military History in Dresden, Germany. The tank is covered with knitting made by Dresden citizens, called “Attack! Knitting for peace. Taking a stand against war and violence with a cross-generational handicrafts project.” (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

: April 25, 2013: A German Leopard 1 tank stands in front of the Museum of Military History in Dresden, Germany. The tank is covered with knitting made by Dresden citizens, called “Attack! Knitting for peace. Taking a stand against war and violence with a cross-generational handicrafts project.” (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

: March 28, 2013: Mexican artist Pedro Reyes poses with one of his artworks, a bass guitar made out of recycled guns, at the Lisson Gallery in London. (Luke MacGregor/Reuters)

: March 8, 2013: A pedestrian walks over an illustration to draw attention to domestic violence against women, on International Women’s Day in central Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul’s main Istiklal pedestrian street has been decorated by the local Beyoglu Municipality with banners and illustrations to draw attention to domestic violence against women in Turkey. The illustration symbolises Esra Bilen, a 25-year old Turkish woman who was killed by her husband. (Murad Sezer/Reuters)

: December 4, 2012: A visitor looks at artist Amy Cheung’s full size wooden ‘Toy Tank’ at the ‘Hong Kong Eye’ exhibition at Saatchi Gallery in London, England. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images for the Saatchi Gallery)

: September 26, 2012: A visitor looks at Antony Gormley’s “Silence,” at the AKA Peace exhibition at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in central London. Bran Symondson, a former soldier, conceived the AKA Peace project, in which artists turn decommissioned AK47 assault rifles into works of art. (Andrew Winning/Reuters)

: September 26, 2012: A visitor looks at Langlands & Bell’s “Sign of the Times,” at the AKA Peace exhibition at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in central London. Bran Symondson, a former soldier, conceived the AKA Peace project, in which artists turn decommissioned AK47 assault rifles into works of art. (Andrew Winning/Reuters)

: June 19, 2012: A man arranges bread on a life-sized model of a tank at Morro Santa Marta, the first ‘pacified’ favela, ahead of the Rio+20 conference in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil. The installation by the World Future Council organization symbolizes the use of military expenses to fund social needs and calls for the governments taking part in the Rio+20 conference to work towards disarmament for sustainable development. (Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

: June 19, 2012: A girl eats bread in front of a life-sized model of a tank covered with bread on display at Morro Santa Marta, the first ‘pacified’ favela, ahead of the Rio+20 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The installation by the World Future Council organization symbolizes the use of military expenses to fund social needs and calls for the governments taking part in the Rio+20 conference to work towards disarmament for sustainable development. (Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

: April 8, 2012: People walk past fake guns arranged to the letters that read USA at an art exhibition in Mexico City. The theme of the exhibition discusses the illegal arms trade between U.S. and Mexico. Authorities in Mexico have complained about the flood of weapons coming into their country from the United States, which they say facilitates the deadly war among drug cartels, causing more than 50,000 drug-related killings over the past five years. (Claudia Daut/Reuters)

: April 8, 2012: People walk over a floor displaying empty bullet shells at an art exhibition in Mexico City. The theme of the exhibition discusses the illegal arms trade between U.S. and Mexico. Authorities in Mexico have complained about the flood of weapons coming into their country from the United States, which they say facilitates the deadly war among drug cartels, causing more than 50,000 drug-related killings over the past five years. (Claudia Daut/Reuters)

: November 20, 2011: A man stand over a map of Libya made up of bullet casings in Zintan, Libya, where Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is being held. The sign reads: “Libya al-Jihad.” (Ismail Zitouny/Reuters)

: October 4, 2011: Two policemen walk by a knotted gun-shaped sculpture in Mexico City. Six giant guns with a tied barrel –to stop bullets– including a replica of one made by Yoko Ono in memory of John Lennon, are on display in the capital within a campaign against drug-related violence, which has left more than 41,000 dead since December 2006. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)

: June 20, 2011: A Soviet WW II tank painted pink is loaded on a boat to be transported in Prague’s city center. Original Soviet Army tank Nr. 23 was on display in Prague from the war until visual artist David Cerny painted it pink with friends in April 1991. The Czech Republic is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the departure of Soviet troops which invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, and the tank was brought back to Prague from a military museum for a week for the occasion. (Petr Josek/Reuters)

: June 16, 2011: People walk past the painting ‘Gun’ from 1981 by late U.S. artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987) the Art Unlimited of the Art Basel art fair in Basel, Switzerland. (Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

: May 26, 2011: A visitor walks past part of an installation by German artist Dirk Skreber entitled ‘Untitled (Crash 1) and Untiteld (Crash 2)’ at the Saatchi Gallery in central London, which form part of ‘The Shape of Things To Come: New Sculpture’ exhibition. (Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 7, 2011: A woman holding a baby looks at a sculpture of a dove made out of 8715 toy guns and toy soldiers in Caborca, Mexico. The sculpture was made by Antonio Estrada and elementary school students as part of the “Jueguemos para Vivir (Let’s play to live)” campaign for peace and a respectful environment for children. (Alonso Castillo/Reuters)

: June 8, 2009: Artist Raul Lemesoff drives his vehicle called “Arma de Instruccion Masiva” (weapon of mass instruction) through the streets of Buenos Aires. The “weapon of mass instruction” is a motorized sculpture made with books and is used by Lemesoff to distribute books as well as accept donations in order to supply schools in need, bars, country houses and any other venue where books might be lacking or rarely found. (Marcos Brindicci/Reuters)

: February 23, 2009: Revellers stand next to a carnival float with a large papier-mache figure of a gun as Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, with ‘freedom of press’ written on it, is pictured during the traditional Rose Monday carnival parade in Duesseldorf, Germany. The Rose Monday parades in Cologne, Mainz and Duesseldorf are the highlight of the German street carnival season. (Ina Fassbender/Reuters)

: January 12, 2009: Metal sculptures of a fish and a robot, both made from pieces of destroyed weapons, are shown at the Iraqi Mine/Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Clearance Organisation gallery in Baghdad. A dragonfly fashioned from a machine gun barrel, a rifle butt carved into the portrait an ancient Egyptian queen and a spent mortar round ashtray are just a few of the works Iraqi artists are making from weapons of war. Each day, the Iraqi Mines and Unexploded Ordnance Clearance Organisation (IMCO) destroys some 800 weapons, including AK-47 rifles, old school British Bren guns, mortar rounds and belt-fed machine guns collected by the U.S. forces during raids. (May Naji/Reuters)

: December 30, 2008: A member of the Iraqi Mine/Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Clearance Organization displays metal sculptures made from destroyed weapons in Baghdad. Some of the destroyed weapons confiscated by the U.S. military from raids and search operations are made into different kinds of artistic metal sculptures. (May Naji/Reuters)

: December 14, 2007: A Colombian army soldier stands guard next to guns that belonged to demobilized paramilitary fighters in Sogamoso. Colombia will smelt the guns to make art pieces, government officials said. (Daniel Munoz/Reuters)

: September 04, 2007: Cambodian artist Ouk Chimvichet puts the finishing touches to a three ton Naga Peace Monument sculpture made almost entirely from 3000 old AK-47 rifles at the Development Technology Workshop in Phnom Penh , Cambodia. The Naga for Peace and Development has been created as part of the Japanese Assistance Team for Small Arms Management Programme in Cambodia (JSAC). The Naga symbolizes Cambodia’s hope for a weapons-free society and for the country’s move into a prosperous time after decades of conflict. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

: October 2, 2006: Colombian instrument maker Jose Paredes assembles an AK47 rifle to be converted to an electric guitar in his workshop in Bogota, Colombia. A top musical craftsman, Luis Alberto Paredes and his family have branched out from their fine classic string instruments to fashion electric guitars from shotguns and AK47s once used by fighters caught up in the country’s lingering conflict. (Jose Miguel Gomez/Reuters)

: September 23, 2006: Colombian instrument maker Jose Paredes cleans AK47 rifles to be used as parts of electric guitars in his workshop in Bogota, Colombia. A top musical craftsman, Luis Alberto Paredes and his family have branched out from their fine classic string instruments to fashion electric guitars from shotguns and AK47s once used by fighters caught up in the country’s lingering conflict. (Jose Miguel Gomez/Reuters)

: November 15, 2005: Pistols, guns, grenades and other military accessories made of a soft fabric, filled with wool and decorated with beads and Soviet symbols are on display at the exhibition called “Ushanka (fur hat with ear-flaps) of Russian Empire” by artist Dmitriy Tsvetkov in the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg. (Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters)

: February 16, 2004: Cambodian artist Touun Tourneakea, 26, works on a bicycle sculpture made almost entirely of old AK-47 and M-16 rifles at a workshop in the capital Phnom Penh. The European Union is funding a project aimed at turning weapons into art in an effort to help Cambodia become a ‘weapons-free society’ after decades of war. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

: February 16, 2004: A Cambodian artist works on a sculpture of a peacock made almost entirely from old AK-47 rifles at a workshop in the capital Phnom Penh. The European Union is funding a project aimed at turning weapons into art in an effort to help Cambodia become a ‘weapons-free society’ after decades of war. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

: September 14, 2003: A man walks near replica of missiles before a march for “Brazil Without Weapons” at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil is one of the most violent countries in Latin America, with a murder rate of 25 per 100,000 inhabitants. (Sergio Moraes/Reuters)

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