G-23: Assault Rifle

Background Information:
Riding on last year's Best of Show winning sculpture, the G-23: Prototype (pictured above), these set of guns were not necessarily the easiest to create, but were definitely the most accessible.

However, the main idea behind these rifles meaning was originally going to take a much serious commentary (mainly social issues dealing with gun control in the United States.) Originally conceived around the Spring of 2013, the series was to be a part of a performance art. Since I would have manufactured close to 20 assault and hunting rifles, I would have distributed them to people in attendance of the exhibition. I would have been dressed as some kind of goth-rocker version of a dictator with two scanty-clad women in uniform standing beside me as sexy body guards (also holding crutch guns.) It was to be both over-the-top but contain a lot of political undertones.

The guns would have all taken a black and red color scheme that resembled that of Nazi Germany or Soviet Russian propaganda posters. It would have also taken a very Occupy Wall Street aspect to in terms of the actual performance. However, amongst the anti-communist overtones, the entire performance would have been very ambiguous in a way that it would be up for interpretation in terms of where I personally stand on the subject of gun control.

Nevertheless, the idea was scrapped and instead I decided to take the crutch guns into a different direction.

RED/BLACK
This was very first gun for the 2014 #CrutchGuns series and as I mentioned above it still kept the same color scheme as I had intended a year ago. Despite the same colors, the gun and the rest of the series do not take the serious route.

SILVER/GLITTER
I think a big part of my personality is that I really love the glam-style of rock n' roll culture of the late 70's and 80's. I just love androgyny and gender-bending characters and people. Glamorous frontmen and women such as David Bowie, Lady Gaga, Lou Reed, Brian Molko, and Joan Jett have in many ways shaped my life and how I dress and express myself.

Though gender and androgyny have nothing to do directly with this work, you get the idea; I love glamorous things. So in the end, I really wanted to have something that sparked that kind of rebellious, glamorous, and sorta trashy type of style. In that aspect, I combined a Jackson Pollock inspired approach to give the series more variety in terms of color scheme. Up until this point, the rest of the weapons were stagnated to a binary color schemes (ex. pads and cushions were usually one color while the rest of the frame was another.) This allowed much

FLOWERS
This rifle was inspired by my friend Anelle. She always wanted me to draw her some flowers, with a sun and perhaps some bumblebees buzzing around. So, in a further attempt that I don't really take myself too serious. I did just that. Instead of painting them all, I decided to draw them using sharpie markers instead.

Additional Notes:
- These assault rifles are modeled after the AK-47 Assault Rifles.
- The name G-23 doesn't really mean anything aside from G coming from my name and the 23 just seemed to roll of the tongue.
- In the beginning of the development, I often described the Silver/Glitter assault rifle as “a flamboyant Jackson Pollock throwing up all over Lady Gaga.”
- I often refer to the Flowers rifle as Anelle, named after my friend who influenced me in making a gun with flowers.
- Though Red/Black was the first one to be created for the series, both Glitter and Flowers were one of the final 5 to have been created.