Saving Culture: The Art Of Piers Secunda

Piers Secunda is both an artist and a documentarian. He was born in London and studied painting at the Chelsea College of Art. But he doesn’t paint on canvas. Instead, he layers the product to create assemblage art that looks like sculpture. While on residency in China, he watched members of the Chinese Army practice their shooting skills by firing into sheets of cured paint. The resulting bullet holes looked more like flowers, which inspired Secunda to create a new practice - one that brings together his craft and his personal belief that an artist should record the world around him. Secunda traveled to Iraq in 2015 where he created works of art using casts of ISIS bullet holes taken from the cultural sites destroyed by the group. Curious Mix host Jill Ditmire spent an afternoon with Secunda at the Long-Sharp Gallery in downtown Indianapolis, experiencing the exhibit.