AIR
I was enthralled by the vast expanse of space, the amazing sunsets and the people too… Back in the 1980s I got to know the enigmatic Walter Swan – bedecked in cowboy hat, sunglasses, dungarees, and rising to One Book Bookstore fame – and he was quite magical, so I’m sure he might have sold the USA to me. Every time I go back, I notice something different that I haven’t seen before.” Bullet-ridden targets fall into such category, and are the aesthetic focus of her June exhibition at London’s Eleven Gallery. They’re curious works of art: visually-arresting, detailed, and oh-so humanised. “The character and beauty of the target posters took me by surprise, and it is a bizarre paradox that people are shooting live ammunition to destroy them. Once you see the photographs looming in actual size at the gallery, with the bullet holes backlit, you can’t help but discuss the meaning of what you see”.
There is a definite ‘Only in America’ feel to the collection, especially when you learn who made the puncture marks: “A cross-section of shooters from all walks of life. There were a few bodyguards – like an ex-LAPD cop I met – who were used to guns, and they had an understanding of the firearm needed in a given scenario. But there were also kids no more than 18 years old, out on a date and who had never shot a gun before in their life, going out for the night as though it were the bowling alley. Other patrons were avid gun people, and some just wanted to have guns to look at and hold because after all, they’re very tactile objects.” Asked which of the target posters stand out in her mind, Jane replies, “they all certainly make an artistic statement, and each is visually strong. One of my favourites though, because of the back-story, is an orange silhouette (Target K). It is less figurative than the other posters, but it belonged to a biology schoolteacher who frequently visits the gun club with his fellow teachers, in order to destress, after a tough day at work…” It so happens that the personalised Kalashnikov AK47 mentioned in the opening paragraph carries a mere USD1,400 pricetag. For the 30