PBS’s “Newshour” recently showcased our very own FSU Department of Art professor emeritus, George Blakely’s exhibition, “Bang! The Gun as Image.” This exhibition was at FSU Museum of Fine Arts in 1997.
Blakely is quoted from this exhibition catalog as saying, “I am presenting not my thoughts alone, but the material to provoke your thoughts. My objective is to hold a mirror to our society; we see ourselves and our issues reflected in the artists’ dialogues of ‘The Gun as Image.’ The range of artists’ political positions on the topic is wide and the implications of their imagery diverse. What you choose to do with the ideas and the images from which they are derived is another creative act: what opinions are you going to take and with whom will you discuss them?”
“Works in that show, including by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Mapplethorpe, were displayed along with many artifacts depicting the gun — toys, jewelry, books, bumper stickers, hats — to show just how pervasive that weapon is in our culture, no matter what your perspective is on the debate over gun control.”
For the full story, visit: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2013/02/the-gun-as-image.html