Heart Triptych

My intention was to have this piece ready for Valentine’s Day this year, but that didn’t quite happen. I’m honestly not as bitter as this triptych implies; it was done sort of more tongue-in-cheek than anything else. I initially thought of shooting a canvas with a big heart on it thanks to those glorious hair metal lyrics of yester-year courtesy of Bon Jovi, “Shot through the heart, And you’re to blame. Darlin’, you give love A bad name.” Cheesy in every possible sense, I know, but it made me laugh and sometimes that’s all that counts.

No, in this case the reaction of the guy at the shooting range was priceless, too. (I really did shoot the thing using a Dirty Harry Special and .38 special ammo, thanks to my dad and the obliging folks at the Gun Store in Las Vegas. The emptied shells were used to make the “broken heart.” Not really sure why the gun shots ended up looking completely square. Must have been a really tight weave on the canvas.)

Gun Store Guy: So, who were you thinking of when you were shooting? [Looks at me proudly displaying my shot-up canvas.] You know what? Never mind. I don’t even want to know.

2008