Pain Killer

This piece was a reaction to the terrible experience of witnessing an opiate overdose on the street near my studio.

The victim had two upset dogs, so I could not approach them to help (and probably couldn’t have done anything anyway). He ultimately survived, but not before I had to give him up for dead. The feeling of helplessness led me to make this absurd solution in the spirit of the American healthcare system. The silver spoon is attached to a working trigger mechanism which flings drugs at the target (the pills are not real opiates).

Every element was found — scrap yards, second-hand stores, dumpsters — then cleaned, stripped, sorted and rebuilt. Found aluminum is TIG-welded and sanded seamless; nothing is cast. The electronics are salvaged from consumer devices, repaired and rewired so the piece does something when you touch it.