In the worst possible taste: John Lennon portrait created from bullet casings

By Leon Watson

Last updated at 4:26 PM on 19th January 2012

John Lennon fans will not like it when they see this...

An artist has immortalised a series of famous gun crime victims by creating portraits of them using bullet casings.

David S. Palmer fashioned stunning pictures of John Lennon, Tupac Shakur, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy out of the turned brass casings.

Eccentric: David S. Palmer (pictured) has created this stunning portrait of John Lennon

The self-confessed Beatle maniac started his bizarre collection as a tribute to legendary singer songwriter Lennon.

David, 58, said: 'I wanted to create a memorial which would remind us of the way John Lennon died.

'So I envisioned a portrait of Lennon in a pixilation of bullet casing with the aim of taking what destroyed the person and turn it into an enduring monument of strength.'

David, from California, used 8,000, 40 calibre bullet casings from a handgun for the macabre John Lennon piece, which measures 48' x 48' and weighs around 160lb.

The casings are stuck to a rigid wooden base using strong adhesive before he uses metal paints, and a blow torch, to create an array of colours the finished 'canvas'.

David added: 'Although it seemed like a good idea I was not sure how the public would respond but I was happy to find there was a very positive response.

The artist said he want his portraits of famous shooting victims like John F. Kennedy (left) to 'remind us of the way they died'

How it was done: This side view shows how Mr Palmer created his portraits out of bullet casings

'I truly feel he would like the piece of work and would probably say something like 'if all bullets were used for art then there would be a lot less orphans'.'

After being pleased with the results, David decided to create a number of unique pieces of other famous faces whose fate was sealed by the barrel of a gun.

He has made 'bullet portraits' of rapper Tupac Shakur who was shot dead in 1996 along with Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy.

There are now plans to make portraits of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi.

The JFK portrait has been sold to a private collector while any one interested in the Tupac or Kennedy works of art can buy them for around 5,000.

Source : dailymail

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