War memorial

Some work revolving around the symbols of sacrifice. This is work in progress but the first piece is reaching a conclusion.
I'll have more to say on the matter at some point.

 

 

This piece has been inspired by several sources. I think it's an off shoot or extension of the 'Plastic Armies' ideas that can be seen earlier in the blog. That idea was pretty tricky to realise although I might give it another go now this is complete. I don't think this would have come about if it wasn't for seeing the work of Kris Kuksi, Jake and Dinos Chapman and revisiting Renoir's 'Gates of Hell' piece. I originally wanted this to be white as it was meant to resemble a forces graveyard cross but the idea for it to be more of a religious icon quickly took over.

 



 I've lost count of the number of packets of soldiers and weapons and bottles of superglue it took to make this. It can stand up on its own as if placed on an altar but ultimately I would like to place it in a deep box frame as if it's a relic.

 

Ideally I would have liked to have this piece electroplated but you can only electroplate certain plastics and there are definitely several types contained within the sculpture. I doubt I could have afforded it anyway and the gold paint I've used here has worked pretty well.

I'll be using ready built soldiers for the next in this series. I think the grenade will be an effective piece.