Natalie Montaner/Contributing Writer
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of violent gun crimes, causing worry and alarm throughout the media and the nation.
The Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida and the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in Connecticut are just two examples of recent gun-related tragedies that have raised red flags on the leniency of our gun laws.
Robert Einbeck, a French artist, took a different approach to raising gun violence awareness through his collection of works entitled “Bang!”
Through his collection, Einbeck shows how gun violence is not just a US problem, but rather a worldwide issue that cannot continue to be overlooked.
Each of Einbeck’s pieces focuses on the actual gun barrel, what houses the bullet, which is the precise object that causes a gun-inflicted death. Through bright colors and contrasts, he aims to transform a gun’s barrel into a symbol of our brittle existence.
On his website, Einbeck explains this by stating, “this is why for me the urgency consists of dissociating this object of death, identified as the barrel of a gun, from its primary brutality in order to transform it into an object of emotion that could question the fragility of existence, but also the bruises and frustrations of human beings as sources of devastating impulses.”
Einbeck is attempting to transform the gun’s barrel from a disturbing, violent reminder of past murders to something that raises awareness, introspection and a tranquility of the self.
According to his website, Einbeck believes that “art allows us to better understand our past. It is a constant reference point in a greater perception of our spiritual journey. It has always been a means of growing sensitivity and gaining awareness.”
“Bang!” will be on display at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum until Aug. 30.
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