Guns have negative connotations, plain and simple. But Birmingham, Alabama artist Walt Creel is utilizing art to change our perception of the gun. Once a weapon, now it’s a paintbrush (so to speak). Creel shoots pieces of metal thousands of times to create accurate portraits of animals.
His ongoing series, Deweaponizing the Gun, is at once a wonderful display of skill and expertise and a poignant commentary on guns in our culture.
Here’s what he had to say about this project:
“When I decided I wanted to make art using a gun, I was not sure what direction I would have to take. I knew I did not want to use it simply as an accent to work I was doing, but as the focus. My main goal was to take the destructive power away from the gun. To manipulate the gun into a tool of creation and use it in a way that removed it from its original purpose. To deweaponize it.”
Three more photos after the jump.
