Located in Culver City, CA
FORGIVE ME FATHER TITLED (FORGI VEMEF)
Mixed media by Ryan Mc Elhinney
Year 2013
Medium SPRAY PAINTED MDF WITH USED SHOTGUN SHELLS
Edition 2/2
Size 47" x 47" inch
Signed YES
FORGIVE ME FATHER FOR I HAVE SINNED
Inspiration:
Death Letters
"I wanted to recreate Death letters that soldiers write to their families.
A few years ago I went to a shooting range and discovered 1000's of used shotgun shells and as I'm used to recycling I thought I could turn them into something creative so I got thinking.
I saw a very moving programme on PTSD. I have never experienced war myself and never had first hand experienced of the effects, but I wondered if could express the idea of War and the effect is has regardless of right or wrong or innocent or guilty. More of a wouldn't the world be a better place without War. I thought I could do this by visually letting people feel and see the effects war had on people and families involved.
I feel like the media so easily talk about groups of soldiers that die and just move onto the next story without really expressing the actual loss felt by soldiers loved ones that are left behind. Its almost not a shock any more to hear of death.
I started researching letters soldiers had sent their partners and came across "Death Letters" and was very moved by them and thought if I could recreate these in large scale works of art it would really make people think and have a positive effect. I have shown my visuals to lots of people and they have found them emotional to read and it has brought many to tears. This is the affect I am going for. I want people to really sit back and understand that One death creates such sadness and loss for those left behind. Sons, Daughters, Husbands, Wives, Fathers and Mothers. I feel this can be achieved by making my pieces very large.
My plan was to either hand paint the letters large scale on the fabric of the sides of used Army tents as I presume a lot of these letters would be written while soldiers are lying on their beds. Alternatively I planned on doing this by using bullets standing on end to make the words. This was be created in dot form as you look at them straight on. It will be easier to explain when you see the examples attached."
~ Ryan Mc Elhinney
* * * ABOUT THE ARTIST * * *
Irish Artist-designer Ryan Mc Elhinney was born in Dublin in 1973. Classically trained as an Animator, Ryan has worked on many Feature movies in Europe and America for Walt Disney and 20th Century Fox.
While working with Arizona-based Fox, a chance reading of the first issue of Wallpaper magazine set him on a different path. “Contemporary design was like a breath of fresh air”, explains McElhinney. A career as a product designer blossomed, along with a love of local thrift and house clearance stores. Trawling for materials quickly became an obsession, with McElhinney’s natural eye and vivid imagination ensuring he spotted the perfect finds to bring to life his early designs. Full of expression and movement, dollar-a-bag sacks of second-hand plastic toys became the designer’s chosen medium. Telling a story with each manipulation, Mc Elhinney meticulously painted and fused together each figure in a six week process, creating the first in his series of ‘Toy’ frames and lamp bases.
Endlessly inventive, designs range from the Knot sofa, winner of the Peugeot Design Awards and finalist in both the BIDA and FX awards, to the Swarovski crystal-encrusted ‘groom and groom’ figures rumored to have topped Elton and David’s wedding cake. Today, recycling is more current than ever and remains at the heart of McElhinney’s work. Fusing old and new, he transforms found objects to continuously surprising effect. A world away from the dated image of how recycled should look, his sexy, urban projects and hand-made one-of-a-kind sculptures have enjoyed the attention of design aficionados from Philippe Starck to Kanye West, who recently enthused about the designer’s subversively glamorous gold-painted Toy Lamps...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Spray Paint More Art
MaterialsSpray Paint, Other Medium