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Lessons by Ben Turnbull
By Spraygraphic | October 31, 2009
Lessons by Ben Turnbull
Ben Turnbull is fascinated by the global dominance of American culture, and his works unsettling effects result from re-presenting the toys of our innocent youth in symbolic forms that reveal the shocking truths about war, death and guns in the world’s most powerful country. Above all they take a satirical look at the lengths that the country’s political elites go to in order to control and manipulate the way we think, from our first days of play to the last time we cast our vote. Turnbull is a passionate critic of the contemporary American political system, and explains why toys are central to his work: ‘Force fed on violence, abused by a controlling superpower and blackmailed through patriotism, the public are ultimately as disposable as the toys they once played with’.
Topics: Sculpture Art |
October 31st, 2009 at 7:01 pm
even though he seems to disagree with sean hannity, this kicks ass.
November 16th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
“â��Force fed on violence, abused by a controlling superpower and blackmailed through patriotism, the public are ultimately as disposable as the toys they once played withâ��.”
I get that this is his premise, but I have a hard time seeing it in the work presented here. Yes, it’s well-sculpted, but in no way do I see that this work’s, “unsettling effects result from re-presenting the toys of our innocent youth in symbolic forms that reveal the shocking truths about war, death and guns in the worldâ��s most powerful country.” The work just displays a bunch of carved guns, and I’m not convinced that his choice of media and other artistic choices express his concept effectively. If I didn’t have the article underneath, I would not have understood it on it’s own, and that, I feel at least, is the mark that defines effective work.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:19 pm
This is a nice visual play on the concept of being “Deeply Ingrained” I am not seeing what was so hard to gather. It spoke loud and clear.