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

HOME