Gun Play

Copied Rico Gatson, Gun Play, 2001, single-channel video, color, sound; 02:35 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2015.7.1, © 2001, Aunrico Gatson

Artwork Details

Title
Gun Play
Artist
Date
2001
Location
Not on view
Copyright
© 2001, Aunrico Gatson
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums
Mediums Description
single-channel video, color, sound; 02:35 minutes
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure group
  • Object — weapon — gun
Object Number
2015.7.1

Artwork Description

Rico Gatson appropriated the familiar imagery of pop-culture cinema in his 2001 video, Gun Play. It is an arresting collage that mixes sequences from Jack Hill’s 1974 blaxploitation film Foxy Brown and Sergio Leone’s epic spaghetti western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, from 1966. Here Gatson composes a kaleidoscope of cult references and Hollywood clichés that confront the mesmerizing power of mainstream media.

Watch This!: Revelations in Media Art, 2015