Print of unique art piece 'Beat of a Wing Draco'  

Edition: 1 of 100

Signed by Artist & embossed with artist stamp of authenticity

Paper size : 70cm Long x 36cm Wide 
Printed on archival paper - limited edition print

Unframed - Life size AK47 Draco 

Seriel Number: EH1733

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

This edition print is taken from the original art piece 'Beat of a Wing Draco'

Deactivated AK47 taken from a conflict zone and embellished with real butterflies. Original art piece sold at Hofa Gallery in Mayfair, London. 

It is inspired by the artist’s utopian vision or fantasy, that even while the world is being slowly engulfed by man’s greed, always disguised as need, the butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere, ultimately perhaps altering the path of the planet’s condition, returning it back to an earlier prelapsarian state when man held such destructive and ravenous impulses in check and Mother Nature was left to her own devices.

The butterflies become active agents of this vision, taking hold of the AK-47 rather than simply alighting on it, their complete life process enacted on the bayonet as a declaration of the life force of Mother Nature itself. They become a statement of beauty and potency, in the face of something that brings destruction, their numbers engulfing the AK-47 and also hinting at latent aggression and the true power of Mother Nature should it ever be fully unleashed.

The work elicits a dialogue between what initially seems like quite simple oppositions, delicate wings and harsh metal, vulnerability and strength, beauty and death, nature and man, but what initially seems straightforward unravels into something more complicated. Is such an iconic shape as the AK-47, which has brought so much suffering and death across the world, made beautiful by the butterflies on it? Are we taken in by the beauty of the destruction that lies underneath? Is the AK-47 engulfed by the mass of butterflies made vulnerable? If Mother Nature is capable of this is she so vulnerable or actually a terrifying match to the AK-47? This leads us to further questions. Could the initial vision of a return to some prelapsarian Eden be possible? Is it the human condition to eventually destroy each other and everything around us, or can Mother Nature in her most delicate form overcome Man & Steel?

Bullet Fillings:

Clear Bullets are handmade and modelled from an AK-47, 7.62 round.

1. Dead Fish (Represents destruction of the oceans)

2. Fertiliser (Represents destruction of the natural environment)

3. Oil (Production and use of oil, carbon monoxide and other by-products)

4. Sugar (Represents over-farming)

5. Man (Represents mankind)

6. Coal (Represents burning of fossil fuel)

7. Saw Dust (Deforestation and destruction of the rainforest)

8. Pesticides (Destruction of the natural habitat including butterflies)

9. Bullet with ‘YOUR NAME’ on it

Made in London, UK.