Toronto-based
artist Viktor Mitic thinks we need to have a serious conversation about gun
violence in our culture. And he’s trying to provoke it by creating art — with a
gun.
At his solo
exhibition scheduled to open April 4 in Toronto, he’ll show a series of pop art
pictures he's created — of figures such as John Kennedy, John Lennon, Benazir
Bhutto and Marilyn Monroe — each of them outlined with bullet holes.
Mitic learned
to shoot during compulsory military service in the former Yugoslavia in the
1970s.
He studied at
the University of Toronto and now leads a tranquil life with his
Japanese-Canadian wife and young son, until it comes time to finish off his
art.
Each image gets
a fresh coat of paint — in vibrant colours — before Mitic sets it up in a
shooting range and fills it with bullet holes.
"It just
worked out well because the effect that I was getting on canvas was not only
the bullet points, the black powder being embedded into the surface of the
canvas, it was also something that would make me think a bit more about ..you
know...the issues," he said.
He’s been
criticized for glamorizing gun culture, but his aim is actually to draw
attention to it. Mitic says he’s horrified by incidents such as the recent
school shooting in Newtown, Conn., and the shootings at a Danzig Street
barbecue in Toronto last summer.
His upcoming
show, titled Bullet Proof, places the issue of guns in front of viewers who
often have visceral reactions to the bullet holes in the canvas.
Mitic’s images
are often of famous people, but also of scenes – one from the War of 1812,
another a likeness to Guernica, Picasso’s seminal painting about the
bombing of that Spanish city.
He has done
paintings of both Stephen Harper and former prime minister Jean Chrétien —
though not with the bullet-hole theme —and his work has been collected by the
National Gallery of Canada and Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton. He also
has had attention from around the world for his bullet-ridden art.
Bullet Proof by
Viktor Mitic will show at The Peach Gallery in Toronto from April 4 to May 2,
2013.