40,000 copper and brass full metal jacket bullets, steel armature
Created in response to the exponential proliferation of mass shootings in the United States, Robert Longo’s Death Star II consists of a suspended globe studded with 40,000 copper and bronze full metal jacket bullets. The work is a sequel to Longo’s original 1993 sculpture Death Star, though more than twice as large and housing more than double the number of bullets, reflecting the frightening increase in mass shooting incidents in the United States in the last 25 years. Densely packed over the entire sphere, the gleaming bullets viscerally visualize the physical, material elements enacting this disturbing violence – tragically becoming increasingly ubiquitous. This aggressive, provocative surface in combination with the sculpture’s huge mass and planet-like presence create an unavoidable confrontation with viewers. Longo gives statistical abstractions a brutal, material form, mirroring the fear and terror that continue to envelop our society and forcing viewers to consider the underlying causes of this startling turn of events. In order to support efforts to reduce gun violence, 20% of the proceeds from the sale of Death Star II will be donated to Everytown for Gun Safety (https://everytown.org/).
