For this work Cornelia Parker melted down a .44 calibre magnum revolver bullet and constructed a net-like grid with the wire from the bullet. The geometric grid has been arranged into a butterfly shape and floats in the space beneath the glass. As a result, the artist has turned a deadly object into the image of something both fragile and free. From a distance, wire and shadow appear like fine pencil drawings in which the murderous power of their source can no longer be discerned. The grid refers to those used by Minimalist artists such as Agnes Martin, Sol LeWitt or Richard Serra, but confounding the abstract appearance is the fact the grid, by the very nature of its material, is fully 'loaded'.
Cornelia Parker (British, 1956)
lead bullet drawn into wire
Acquired in 2024
