Playboy AK-47s (Print)

Exclusive limited edition art print on archival print, signed and embossed by artist Bran Symondson.

Bran has used two decommissioned AK-47s mounted on a white background. The left AK-47 is adorned with real blue and yellow butterflies. Bran printed the famous ’70s and ’80s Playboy centre pages on glossy paper, created origami butterflies, and placed them among the real butterflies.

The AK-47 on the right side has been completely painted with the blackest paint, called Black 3.0, and is also embellished with black butterflies. Bran wanted to create a sense of opposition. As for the Skull artwork attached to the black AK-47, Bran recreated the Playboy logo using a real rabbit skull.

Inside the transparent glass bullets in the AK-47 magazine, the bullets are filled with symbolic gemstones that denote the narrative of the artwork:

• Blue Tanzanite: Represents transformation.

• Red Garnet: A spiritual stone of higher thinking and self-empowerment, representing the sexual revolution.

• Green Peridot: Known as a stone of compassion, balancing the emotions and the mind.

• Citrine Amber: A stone of abundance and manifestation that attracts wealth and prosperity.

• Amethyst - Purple: To rid the mind of negative thoughts and bring humility and sincerity.

• Ruby - Red: This stone represents Passion.

• Pink Sapphires: This stone represents beauty, wisdom, and purity.

The Playboy logo and the AK-47 are instantly recognizable. These iconic emblems evoke emotions of change and revolution around the world. As an artist working with AK-47s, being invited to this project was an exciting proposition.

For this reason, the narrative of my photoshoot was to merge these elements inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s film “Apocalypse Now”, set in the Vietnam War in which there is a scene; a famous place in which the Playboy girls are brought in by Huey helicopter with the Playboy logo on it, they are flown in to entertain the troops. We styled our model ‘Betty’ to portray militaria as shown in the previous slides.

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