Joseph Hubbard

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND PARANOIA:
FEAR, GREED AND LOATHING

This body of work (2001-2006) challenges the viewer to consider his fears, beliefs, and prejudices through interpretations of some symbols of power. Not since the Middle Ages have passions created such overwhelming and persistent tensions and conflicts between social groups, religions, and states. The "evolution" of our respective cultures have resulted in more murders and genocides, more misperceptions and more, not less irrationality. These sculptures attempt to persuade self-examination through a kind of wicked beauty. Edifices, Spires, Minarets, and "Weapons of Mass Destruction" suggest both devotional and threatening objects used to project influence. They are symbols of both the most inspirational and foolish aspects of human nature. The art in this collection of works range from the literal (exact, life-sized reproductions of the first two atomic bombs, Fat Man & Little Boy, to the metaphorical (Time, Conquest & Religion, Cultural Destruction) which refers to rhetoric and subtler weapons used.

(click on images to enlarge)



THE PROCESSION OF DAYS (WMD~TIME)

THE PROCESSION
OF DAYS (WMD~TIME)
Á La Recherche du Temps Perdu
(Remembrance of Things Past)

for Proust
2001

226cm H x 107cm W x 21 cm D
oak, cedar, plexiglass, acrylic,
brass, cast hydrocal eggs

Collection: McIntosh Gallery
London, Canada

 

WMD~RELIGION: SHOES
OF THE FISHERMAN

2003

220cm H x 40cm W x 40cm D
Wood, brass, fiberglass, rubber
calving nipples, gold leaf, lights
Dedicated to Jared Diamond
(Guns, Germs, And Steel)



WMD~(RELIGION ):
SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN

WMD~MINARET-MISSILE #3

WMD~MINARET-MISSILE #3
2004

244cm H x 94cm diam.
Wood, brass, fiberglass,
cast forton resin

 
 

PARANOIAC MINARETS
WMD'S #1, #2

2003-2004

183cm H x 102cm Diam. ea.(x 2)
Wood, fiberglass, sintered iron,
Hydrocal, prosthetic eyes

PARANOIAC MINARETS WMD‘S #1, #2

PARANOIAC MINARETS WMD‘S #4, #5  

.

PARANOIAC MINARETS
WMD'S #4, #5

2003-2004

244cm H x 102cm Diam. ea.(x2)
Wood, fiberglass, Hydrocal,
prosthetic eyes, gesso

 
WMD ~ THE FAT MAN

79cm H x 152cm W x 328cm L
fibreglass, Hydrocal,
sintered iron; 90 lbs.
original bomb= 10,200 lbs.
as per original half-section



Original nickname for atomic bomb
dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on
August 9, 1945. An armed
Mk 4 was lost in 1950 in crash of
B36 bomber over British Columbia & never found.

.

 

WMD ~ THE FAT MAN

WMD ~ LITTLE BOY, LITTLE BOY 

 

WMD~ LITTLE BOY, LITTLE BOY
2005

145cm H x 92cm W x 229cm L
fiberglass, wood, sintered iron,
Hydrocal

2/3 scale atomic bomb dropped on
Hiroshima, August 6, 1945 (with cultural
“figurehead”) originally named
Little Boy by U.S. Department of War

 
 

SHADOWS: ITINERARIES
2004-2005

six panels; each
9cm H x 178cm W x 2.5cm D
wood, plexiglass, spring scales,
steel cable. Wood letters
spell locales of genocides
from 1906-2006. Inspired by
passage from The Ash Garden
by Dennis Bock re: Hiroshima
atomic flash created permanent
shadows of human beings.

SHADOWS: ITINERARIES

WMD ~ FALSE HOPE

WMD~ FALSE HOPE
2006

46cm H x 31cm Diameter
fiberglass, forton resin,
egg trails 427cm(14ft) brass ladder to floor.

Collection:
St. Thomas-Elgin Art Gallery
Ontario, Canada

 
 

LATIN AMERICAN WMD
MISSILE #6

2006

275cm H x 92cm diameter
Wood,tobacco, fiberglass,
cast forton resin, acrylic

Collection:
Woodstock Art Gallery
Ontario, Canada

LATIN AMERICAN WMD MISSILE #6

WMD's, IED's, EFP's

WMD'S, IED'S, EFP'S
2007

six egg/bomblets, bisected
ea: 44cm L x 25cm Diameter
fiberglass, ceramic,
Forton resin, iron

WMD: MACHETE
2006

66cm W x 25cm H x 5cm D
Machete, wood, iron filings
Principal weapon of
genocides in Africa

WMD: MACHETE

WMD: SEMTEX

WMD: SEMTEX
2006

25cm H x 15cm W x 5 cm D
Resin, foil, wood, wire

ATOMIC WRIST WMD'S
2006-2015

Versions
Mixed media, iron, wood

ATOMIC WRIST WMD'S

WMD: ACQUIESCENCE (PORTAL)

WMD: ACQUIESCENCE
(PORTAL)

2006

183cmH x 55cm W x 122cm D
wood, sintered iron

 

 

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