Guns and Ammo Artworks by Al Farrow

Al Farrow built these unusual holy places with guns, gun parts, bullets, artillery, gears, chains, bullet shells and bone fragments, to reveal the violent side of religion.











Al Farrow was born in Brooklyn, NY and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than thirty years. An accomplished sculptor in a wide variety of media from bronze to clay to assemblage, Farrow generally adopts the language of an historical period in his work, updating the imagery or materials to make cogent observations about contemporary society.











In recent years he has used amunitions—bullets, guns, hand grenades, bombs—to make three-dimensional projects that resemble Christian reliquaries, Islamic mosques and a Jewish menorah.





Al Farrow’s Religious Trifecta: A Synagogue, a Cathedral and a Mosque tries to reinterpret three of the world’s major religions according to their political, military and cultural history.





"I am not a gun person. My fascination with guns is with their function and use."





"It is the ubiquitous presence, seeming necessity and actual accessibility of guns in our culture that inspires my investigation. I am interested in their impact on society and cultures: Past, Present (and Future)."





"I do not personally use guns (Except as a medium for making art), so I was amazed at the availability of gun related paraphernalia when I started to accumulate supplies for this body of work."





"I am also perpetually surprised by the historical and continuing partnership of war and religion. The atrocities committed in acts of war absolutely violate every tenet of religion, yet rarely do religious institutions speak against the violations committed in the name of God. Historically, Popes have even offered eternal salvation to those who fought on their behalf (The crusades, etc.)."





"In my constructed reliquaries, I am playfully employing symbols of war, religion and death in a facade of architectural beauty and harmony."





"I have allowed my interests in art history, archeology and anthropology to influence the work."





"The sculptures are an ironic play on the medieval cult of the relic, tomb art, and the seductive nature of objects commissioned and historically employed by those seeking position of power."









Check his website: http://www.alfarrow.com/

Images taken from here and here