by Christina Stevens
As a journalist you never quite know where you will spend your day or who you will meet.
Even so, I am still sometimes surprised by where I end up.
A shooting range? Sure. Hanging out with an artist? You bet. But together?
Yup.
A weird juxtaposition of two vastly different worlds, neither of which I know very much about.
My first impression? It's loud, really loud, even with protectors plastering my ears against the side of my head.
Viktor Mitic is blasting away at the target, casings are flying and you can smell burnt gun powder in the air.
It's the target, though, which garners the most attention. An acrylic on canvas painting of Hello Kitty. Except now it feels a little more like Goodbye Kitty.
It's the lighter side of a project Mitic has been working on for a few years. The gun is his paintbrush, the bullets his paint. The holes and gun powder residue add a dimension to the paintings unlike any other. He shoots so close to the canvas, the residue burns into it leaving smoky circles behind.
All of Mitic's targets are iconic figures…from pop culture (think Marilyn Monroe types) to political (JFK, Gandhi) to religious. Yes, he is using a gun to paint images of Jesus, Buddha and other other religious themes. That's the controversial part, but also the crux of it all.
Mitic was moved by the war's destruction — from the Buddhas of Afghanistan to soldiers desecrating churches in Kosovo. He wants to recreate that feeling of loss, in hopes of getting people to think about war, and what is sacred. So he blasts on, but he is not shooting the images away. He fires carefully, delicately even, outlining them, sculpting in a way bringing the portraits to life, making them stronger. Each penetration carefully placed, softening the edges.
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Then there is Hello Kitty. Whoa! Talk about going from heavy to light. We are back at the range and Kitty looks a lot different riddled with holes.
Our work here is done…
Wait, not so fast! Are you kidding? We are at a shooting range, of course I am going to shoot a gun.
I get a quick lesson then it is in my hand. It is heavy and feels awkward. Gripping it tightly (too tightly I think) I slowly pull, pull. A bang, smoke and a kick, all at once. The power is unmistakable. There is a thrill in it, but I can't separate this experience from all the damage a gun can do. A few shots later, Hello Kitty has a hole in her foot. I feel like one way or another I have left a mark (albeit an itty, bitty tiny one) on the landscape of Canadian culture.
If you want to check it out, Midic's work (both the serious and light) will be shown at Gallery Moos in Toronto later this month.
Sadly, you won't see my work, Kitty didn't make the cut.
Christina is one of Global National's correspondents based in Toronto.
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