In the Name of Love
How many war stories and bomb statistics can you listen to before it starts to affect your work?
Many people, of course, think the war in Iraq produced positive results: we got rid of a dictator, brought freedom to the people, stopped insurgents. But along with the good came loads of bad: tens of thousands of civilians dead, cities demolished and homes destroyed, lives left in tatters. This started me thinking about bombs as gifts.
A gift has a giver and a receiver. It's usually given with good intentions, and received with joy. But are good intentions enough? When it's no longer welcome, is it still a gift?
This series of work is titled “In the Name of Love”. The gifts are hot cast grenades with bullet-shaped interiors. Kiln cast bows adorn the grenades. The bows are held in place with removable pins.
On the surface the grenades look like fancy gift boxes, colorful, beautiful, a delight to hold. But a closer look reveals the ominous undercurrents, the danger within.
Each piece is named (however improbable the name may sound) after an actual U.S military operation in Iraq. For example, “Operation Glory Light,” “Operation Spring Cleanup”, “Operation Rapier Thrust.”
It's heavy work(literally and figuratively) with a bow on top for levity.