5/1/2004: Skin gun

No, it's art: the above gun is made out of skin wrapped over a gun-shaped frame.

But not just any skin; it's the human skin of the actual artist, Dutch woman Joanneke Meester. Actual skin, from her abdomen, taken under general anesthesia: a flap of 20 centimeters (8 inches) long and four centimeters (1.6 inches) high.

"It took me about an hour to make (the pistol) and at a certain point the edge started drying up and you could see a little blood on the skin, congealed," she said.

"If everyone made a pistol from their own skin, I think they would think twice about using a gun. I think there would be less violence in the world," she said. "But it's not that easy. Violence will always exist."

full story

She had the skin removed under general anethesia.

That is NOT suffering for her art.

Back in MY day ... she woulda flayed her own flesh with a rusty safety razor blade, photographed the whole event, and made a gallery show of it.

At least she could have made an actual size gun, instead of a crude looking Barbie gun.

That is FUCKING GROSS!!!!!

Quote:

Originally posted by zippyt That is FUCKING GROSS!!!!!

what the fuck, I don't get her point. If I made a pistol out of my own skin I'd be asking wolf to take me in for a while.

Here in Pennsylvania I can do that without your asking ... and for that kind of behavior, too (some states won't commit on self-mutilation).

Oops oops oops I was wrong wolf, it was done under a local.

Still, your point stands

It's hard to imagine what kind of crap you'd have to come up with, not to qualify as "art".

She should have spent a little time in the sun first.... that's one pastey gun.

Quote:

Originally posted by xoxoxoBruce It's hard to imagine what kind of crap you'd have to come up with, not to qualify as "art".

Maybe we could convince her to sculpt one out of her grey matter. She doesn't appear to be using it anyway.

So...........what happens next ? I get some bad visions involving tabasco sauce and a hot frying pan.

Nice one, ItrouReor!!

Hahaha. Good show ItrouReor! Welcome to the cellar.

Wow, what a crazy lady. But we've all got to have some crazies in our life, eh? Taken from the article:

Could I point to Van Gogh and say they've never been the most stable peeps in town

MMmmmmm! Perogi's!

are those freckles on the handle?

Hi mrfurd, maybe they were belly piercings.

True story.

Once I was hunting white fronted geese and a big one flew by and I stood up and fired a round from my trusty 10 gauge double barrel (using 3XBB shot), an off brand old Spanish model gun. Down it came with a thud and a few moments passed and then the mate flew around in a circle calling with a slow kerhonk, kerhonk, kerhonk. I felt so bad, like "what had I done?" and I stood ther alone in the field with my gun, my dog and the dead goose, and I was so sad for this now widowed bird. So it all came naturally and I aimed and pulled the rear trigger and sunk that one too. No more sadness.

Made a damn good dinner out of the whole mess.

"I bet if everyone owned a pistol, they'd think twice before trying to make a gun out of someone's skin," is what I think she meant to say.

English can be a complicated language for foreign speakers to get their tenses and possesives, articles and pronouns all sorted out...

The article is missing, Anyone who read it care to weigh in on whether the reason for the surgery was the gun or whether the artist just decided to do something "useful" with the waste from a tummy tuck?

Damifino.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.... if I go to all that trouble I'm gonna use the mf'er - a lot. Of course, since it's tiny and doesn't actually work, what difference does it make if I use it or not?

I think she meant that if everyone had a pistol nobody would try to make stuff from their skin.

I got, if you went through all that healing you'd think twice about shooting.

But seriously, what are the chances of a person that would do this, saying anything profound?

I would like to shoot anybody stupid enough to think they were making a point with a gun replica made of their own flesh.

Hey, what happened to "shoot first and ask questions later"?

Not really. The average drug dealer shoot-out involves absolutely no thinking, and a 15:1 shot to hit ratio. And the hit is of an uninvolved innocent bystander.

If Maggie's shooting you, you're going to be dead.

so surprise birthday parties are out of the question then?

Good one.
Just make sure my wife's out front...