British art project AKs seized while coming into U.S. for exhibition (3 PHOTOS)
“Spoils of war” is a decommissioned AK47 crafted by British artist Bran Symondson and covered in real $1 dollar bills. Within the magazine there are clear 7.62 empty rounds each holding a commodity that creates conflict around the world, Oil, Gold, diamonds etc. (Photo and caption: Maddox Gallery)
An art gallery in the UK is advising that three decommissioned AK-47s were seized by U.S. Customs agents on their way to Houston for public exhibition.
The London-based Maddox Gallery was planning an exhibition of the pieces, created by British artist Bran Symondson, this month. Symondson, a British Afghanistan war vet, contends in a release the objets d’art were originally captured on route from Afghanistan to Syria, and are now completely harmless and unusable as weapons.
“It is ironic that the law permits US Citizens to go and buy a new, live weapon which I could, in theory, use to create one of my artworks from, which then could technically be used in its intended form but will not allow my pieces of harmless art into the country,” he said in a statement issued through the Maddox. “When discussing the issue in La Colombe d’Or Art gallery with a client, who is a US citizen – he laughed and offered to purchase a fully functionally AK47 online for me there and then.”
“Beat of a Wing” is a decommissioned AK-47 covered in real butterflies. Within the magazine there are clear 7.62 empty rounds each holding a commodity which are Symondson’s utopian vision of mother nature reclaiming earth from the environmental damage that man has caused: Sugar representing over farming, Dead fish representing the damage to the oceans, Sawdust to represent deforestation etc.(Photo and caption: Maddox Gallery)
“Virtue of the Vicious” is a decommissioned AK-47 covered in real butterflies which make up the Texan Flag. Within the magazine there are clear 7.62 empty rounds each holding a filling representative of the history of the State of Texas. Yellow rose petal to represent the yellow rose of Texas, Pink cloth with a blood stain on to represent the jacket that Jackie Onassis wore when JFK was assassinated, ground up meteor rocks to represent NASA etc.(Photo and caption: Maddox Gallery)
[ Maddox Gallery ]
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Source: http://www.guns.com/2016/08/16/british-art-project-aks-seized-while-coming-into-u-s-for-exhibition-3-photos/
