GUN ART p.
188/189
ANTICIPATION
Look at the two pieces of art. Choose one and say what strikes you most about it.
I’ve chosen this piece of art. What’s striking me most is the use of colours / of the
perspective. It reinforces the idea that I felt touched by/concerned with...
These are examples of artists who are committed to a particular cause. What cause do you
think it is?
They certainly want to denounce the fact that carrying a gun is dangerous. They probably
intend to warn us and express their opinion about the need to control and regulate guns in
the US.
What is the artist’s goal? Explain using details you found in the text.
'Gun Country' - Michael Murphy ( Map of the United States with 130 hanging Guns ) (youtube.com)
(à recopier) The first work of art is by Michael Murphy, a conceptual artist who
created a trompe l’oeil piece. This type of work is called an installation.
Murphy created the illusion of a map of the United States by hanging 150 guns
in the air using clear fibres (It represents / shows / creates the shape of the United
States with guns suspended in the air.) By doing so, Murphy aims to make people weigh
things up about the gun issue so they can make up their own mind about the right
to bear arms as well as gun control in the US. In fact, he doesn’t intend to
express his own personal point of view. In other words, he doesn’t necessarily
want to question the Second Amendment, he just aims at making people think
about it without influencing them about whether they support it or denounce it.
His work is made to create a discussion, a debate about an issue regarded as
controversial.
Andy Warhol’s work (here are two description taken from 2 different sites)
Death emerged as a distinctive theme in Warhol’s work in the 1960s, with his Marilyn
Monroe portraits and the 'Death and Disaster' series. His fears about dying were
heightened in 1968 when he was shot and critically injured by Valerie Solanas. The gun
depicted here is similar to the .22 snub-nosed pistol that she used. At around the same
time as he was painting guns Warhol was also doing a series of knife pictures. Indeed, the
first idea was to show them together, along with some dollar-sign paintings, at the Leo
Castelli Gallery in New York in January 1982.
In the early 1980s, Warhol painted a variety of iconic objects, including guns, knives, and
crosses. He rejected the idea that his work functioned as social criticism and instead
described himself as an American artist who was merely depicting his environment. This
description suggests that his paintings of guns be read in the same way as his images of
Campbell’s Soup, Marilyn Monroe, or Coca-Cola—images of American icons. Yet, as with
many of Warhol’s statements and works, there are multiple possible meanings. Gun
ownership is popular in America, in part because it gives people a sense of security.
Hollywood imagery and video games add to the allure of guns. The gun is also, through its
widespread use and availability in America, a tool of real and commonplace violence. This
particular gun, a .32 snub-nosed pistol, is similar to the one that Valerie Solanas used in her
1968 assassination attempt on Warhol.
