http://www.a-n.co.uk/degrees_unedited/projects/single/2030133 University of Derby Sat, 18 May 2013 08:50:52 +0000 a-n rss generator a-n The Artists Information Company and contributors edit@a-n.co.uk technical@a-n.co.uk http://www.a-n.co.uk/img/logo.gif http://www.a-n.co.uk/degrees_unedited/projects/single/2030133 http://www.a-n.co.uk/degrees_unedited/projects/single/2030133   My work, as I've said, is made entire using live ammunition, it is a physical representation of the amount of energy used to kill a human. Yet to actually create my work, it is a simple exercise. The first step is to shoot the round into a block of clay, the bullet carves it path though, and then I cast the hole with liquid materials. I use wax for the most part, but resins - and in one case bronze - are currently are in use alongside the wax. Currently, I use these pieces to make installation spaces. A bit of back story about my practice, since mid November of what would have been the second year, I've been working predominately with firearms. I have always made practical experiments to produce my work; I was working with a much more performative aspect of using my own physical extremities to make the pieces (throwing stones etc.). Yet I wanted/needed more physical energy and since I was a kid, and being male, I liked and played with guns. Since I don't own a gun or a license; I luckily have a technician who does, and he quite kindly shoots the work for me... I don't know what it is about me personally that refuses to do any actual work, but I digress. At first it began with air rifles, we then bumped up the power so it would be lethal to humans, rather than rabbits, a big step I know. Moving to the .22 calibre round (the lowest energy needed for lethality, but still very nasty, if it were to hit you in the head it would penetrate the skull and upon losing most of its energy, ricochet inside it, destroying the brain). Over the second year we used a variety of ammunition, learning how the clay reacted and how the forces involved can be controlled effectively. We used handguns, rifles and shotguns to create individual pieces, I used them is the end of year exhibition, an installation called .12.20.22.45. So onto now and the third year, last semester I spent perhaps, a too large amount of time working on getting more energy, it being October, fireworks were becoming readily available. Fortunately, I think, it didn't particularly work. Turns out gun powder is widely unpredictable, who knew? So I went back, as is necessary sometimes, to using firearms. For this year only use the .22 round; this is because it's generally more aesthetic and it is easier to control. I'm planning on making between 150 -200 individual forms for an installation space I'm currently designing. Conceptual thought is where my main focus and interests lie. For me personally, the act of shooting represents something that is intangible. Evolutionarily speaking people don't attack each other because there is a big chance of being hit back by your supposed victim, introduce the gun into this equation and suddenly you have the power to immediately remove the 'threat'. The gun has revolutionised human combat, and has become a symbol for many issues the world over, the AK47 being the most famous. The Middle East now is going through a cornucopia of revolutions but American gun culture is what has stuck with me. Its a strange politically minefield of apparent constitutional rights, the right and left wing, the media and a general feeling of fear. Its contradictory, polarised and rather extreme. The gun is something that is carving history and conceptually the amount of sheer power the bullet has is huge.   ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/degrees_unedited/projects/single/2030133