Vibeke Jensen shows a series of close-up color photographs of different parts of a gun. These lush,
febrile portraits transform the weapon into a potently sexual and unnervingly intimate totem.
 GUN shots |
G U N shots: the photographs
I had never touched a gun in my life before I shot these photographs, and was struck by
how heavy, impressive and dangerous it felt - unlike any other object I ever laid hands on.
The slow, sensual photographs of weapons of instant death contrast to galvanize the viewer and draw her
into the photographic niche, accepting its assumptions and parsing the weapon into its body parts.
The focused enlargements subvert ordinary metaphors for what is deadly, dangerous, seductive,
lovely, vital, and further topple what one describes as beautiful, alluring, enticing, perilous, fatal.
G U N shot video: A 5-min. video displayed on a monitor inside the gallery features a neighborhood
pot dealer and gun enthusiast who tells his story of how he was stuck-up during the 1980s.
D i v e r s e W e a p o n r y
essay by James Sherry
In their G U N shot installation, Vibeke Jensen and Norman Douglas report on the state of the weapons market to the
art market. Their installation consists of three species of media: 8 color photographs of guns, an interactive video projection
using pedestrian traffic, and a short video of a gun owner who appears to be on the wrong side of the law. The irony of using
guns as an environmental image is not lost on viewers as they wonder about the artists' intent. The combination of similar
and diverse elements throws viewers back on themselves and what they think about the subject. No simple solution is
offered and the creative process is both engaged and engaging. read on