Al Farrows Divine Ammunition

Crocker Art Museum

October 11, 2015-January 3, 2016

Theory/Theorist: Cognitivism/Realism

Tamara Duran

Shirley Hazlett, Art 130

November 5, 2015
 Al Farrows Divine Ammunition at the Crocker Art Museum shows sculptures

of reliquaries, cathedrals, synagogues, mosques, mausoleums, and other religious

devotional objects. All of which are made out of bullets, bullet shells, Uzi parts, guns, and

other forms of ammunition along with some containing human bones. Farrows sculptures

are surprisingly realistic to the point where a person could identify what structure he had

modeled a piece after. The materials used and the message of his artwork make for a

chilling yet beautiful exhibit. This exhibit is meant to convey a message to people and to

cause discussion about it. His exhibit leads him to fall under cognitivism but also seeing

how realistic his work is it falls under realism as well. All of this plays a significant role

in being able to show this to a particular group of students along with teaching them and

having them engage in discussions about this exhibit which shall all be expanded upon

with in this paper.

To start the exhibit shows many different religious structures and devotional

objects made of various forms of ammunition. Each piece is an elaborate and

realistic-looking structure that is highly detailed. His initial inspiration for Divine

Ammunition had come from visiting the crypt of the bascilica of San Lorenzo in

Florence, Italy in 1995. While there he had seen a display of reliquaries that preserved the

bones of saints. After viewing this he began working on the sculptures that became the

exhibit Divine Ammunition. Farrow had spent much time planning out each piece and

took a great amount of time working on it. Farrow had sketched out architectural plans

and had done research for a basis for each structure. One of the first sculptures he had

made after visiting the crypt was the Trigger Finger of Sainto Guerro which is a

imaginary Saint of Warfare that he had made up.

 (Trigger Finger of Sainto Guerro XIII)

There are fifteen different variations of the Trigger Finger of Sainto Guerro

that the artist has made. These sculptures represent the imaginary Saint of Warfare he had

made up and they bring a greater link between religion and war. There are also other

pieces in the exhibit that have Sainto Guerro part of them, such as the Skull of Sainto

Guerro, the Humerus of Sainto Guerro, and the Jawbone of Sainto Guerro. All of the

sculptures that have the Sainto Guerro have some sort of bone/bone fragment that

represents the saint. Other sculptures also contain bones and show the link between

religion and war or violence and spirituality in them.

 (Cathedral)

The sculpture called the Cathedral or The Spine and Tooth of Sainto Guerro

is made of bullets, guns, glass, shot, steel, bone, and antique textiles. This sculpture

resembles the Gothic cathedrals in Europe; more specifically the St. Finbarrs Cathedral

from the entrance and the Notre Dame Cathedral from the back. It impressively shows

great detail and maintains a skeletal look that was popular in the Gothic era. One of the

other sculptures called Bombed Mosque is made of guns, gun parts, bullets, shell

casings, steel, brass and resembles part of the Al Fateh mosque. At first look it looks like

an ordinary mosque but when seen from the back the part of the structure looks like it

was destroyed. Another sculpture to talk about is the Synagogue V that is made of guns,

gun parts, steel, bullets, shell casings, lead shots, and glass. This one is actually modeled

after the Great Synagogue of Brussels where as the other sculptures that were mentioned
only bare a similarity to the structures that were named. The similarities from the

structures and the sculptures or the structures they were modeled after show how realism

plays a role in Farrows work.

(Bombed Mosque)

From what was taught in class about realism was that its a theory of art that

holds a good work of art and allows the viewer to recognize what it is. Farrow easily does

this with his sculptures by how he sketched them out beforehand and had done a vast

amount of research before coming out with the final product of the sculpture. From the

brief overview about realism in the class readings it mentions how Plato and Aristotle

would feel about works of realism. For Farrows work Plato would not care for it since

does not care for realism but would consider it to be emotionally powerful because of

what its trying to convey. Aristotle on the other hand would possibly accept this because

of how he is more accepting of the arts compared to Plato and how it imitates religious
structures and devotional objects. This can be better confirmed by book where it says that

For Aristotle, reality consists of the natural world that we sense (Barrett p.22). Farrow is

able to grasp this with his work with how religion and war have affected the world around

us. He is able to maintain his message while still keeping his work realistic.

Farrow is trying to get out his message with his sculptures on how war and

religion or violence and spirituality from history up to the present seem to correlate.

When looking into history many different battles, wars, and other conflicts have been

done in the name of God or Gods. This goes for all religions, not just any one religion.

Some examples that can be named is the Crusades when some of the knights who were

part of it took advantage of their position and looted saying it was in the name of the lord.

Another example that can be named is some of the most recent events, such as 9/11 and

the currently the attacks in Paris on November 13th. These attacks were done by terrorists

who claim to do these things for different reasons, one of them being in the name of their

religion. With Farrows sculptures he addresses this issue but doesnt focus on just one

religion, hes mindful of including multiple religions in this exhibit since most have had

some sort of conflict in the past or present. This message is what is able to relate him to

cognitivism.

The readings from class taught that cognitivism was to teach us about the art

piece and to teach us the aesthetic value of it. A quote from Eileen John from the book

says that Many works of art, in order to be appreciated and enjoyed as art, call out for

understanding, as opposed to sheer awe or delight (Barrett p.65). Farrows Divine

Ammunition calls out for people to try and understand it. Its not meant to merely look

pretty but to convey a message about religion and how it has been used to justify what
they are doing when it comes to conflicts, battles, wars, etc. This in turn is able to teach

people about the dangers of using something as an excuse to justify what they are doing

in to order to make it okay in their mind. Farrow clearly shows this message/teaching in

his exhibit but it is a matter of the viewer learning this and applying it. Though Divine

Ammunition is controversial in how it looks it conveys a good message about religion

and war. As for who would be able to understand this message is something else to

further discuss.

Divine Ammunition is overall a controversial exhibit that not all people can

comprehend. Children would not be able to understand it and some adults would either

ignore it, be offended by it, or also wouldnt be able to understand it. Though the age

group to best teach it to would be anywhere from high school and above. Students in high

school would be better to try and teach this to for they may have a better understanding of

the exhibit compared to a middle school or elementary school students. They would also

be slightly more experienced when it comes to learning and analyzing art. There would

have to be a specific way of teaching them about Al Farrows exhibit though.

To start in how to teach high school students about Al Farrows Divine

Ammunition the students would have to use their artistic perception for his work when

viewing it. Have them look around the exhibit and then have them identify any visual

details that about any of the sculptures. Then have them analyze the meaning of the

exhibit and how the details and materials used for the sculptures influence the how people

pick up meaning. After have the student speak about their thoughts and feelings about Al

Farrows work. If after looking around and the students are unable to say anything about

his work ask them questions like why is this considered art? What is the subject of the
exhibit? What stands out the most about the sculptures? What are the materials that were

used? Questions like these should start a discussion about the artist and his sculptures.

Next to follow would understanding the historical and/or cultural context of the exhibit.

Understanding the historical and/or the cultural context would be somewhat

difficult since it gets more into politics and religion for Al Farrows exhibit. Though to

simplify it ask what the students may know about how religion has come into the

equation when it comes to conflicts, battles and wars in the past. Also ask how it has

come into it in the present as well and how politics may relate to all of this. If the students

may not know much about it then it would be the best time to teach them about this. After

either discussing/answering the questions or teaching them about how religion and war

have correlated in the past and the present have them relate it to Farrows exhibit and

what the purpose of it is. Following this they should be able to figure out the aesthetic

valuing of it.

In aesthetic valuing they should be able to now derive the meaning of the

exhibit. Students should be able to understand how things such as beliefs and social,

economical, and political contexts have influenced the interpretation of the

meaning/message of the exhibit. They should be able to voice their own opinions about

the sculptures and then listen to other students opinions about it as well. They should

consider what their fellow classmates have to say about it and see it it may change their

opinion/point of view. Going through the process of artistic perception, understanding the

historical/cultural context, and using aesthetic valuing would be the most beneficial way

of teaching high school students about Al Farrows Divine Ammunition.

In conclusion Al Farrows Divine Ammunition is beautifully made and has an

important message to convey to people. This message is about how religion and war have

correlated in the past and present because people used religion as a way of justifying their

actions. Not all people will understand the message from this exhibit and some may find

it offensive but it gets its point across. Farrow put much time and detail into each piece

and made sure not to exclude any one religion in this exhibit. He made sure to be

mindful, discriminating, and probing of all as said in description of this exhibit provided

by the Crocker Art Museum.

 Work Cited

Barrett, Terry. Why Is That Art?. Second Edition. Oxford, New York. Oxford University

Press. 2012. Book.

Farrow, Al. Reliquaries. http://www.alfarrow.com/reliquaries.html

Crocker Art Museum. Divine Ammunition-The Sculptures of Al Farrow.

https://www.crockerartmuseum.org/exhibitions/divine-ammunition

Dalkey, Victoria. Art review: Divine Ammuntion by Al Farrow at the Crocker. The

Sacramento Bee. October 29, 2015. Web.

http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article41705343.html