Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

Kat Flyn
Ammo Box

2016

$1,800
£1,378.43
€1,613.85
CA$2,589.22
A$2,630.37
CHF 1,502.73
MX$32,100.99
NOK 17,583.37
SEK 17,843.90
DKK 12,070.41

About the Item

assemblage sculpture: WWI ammo box remade into an ambulance, metal blimp, hand painted Red Cross, inside - Red Cross armband & old photo of soldier and nurse, WWI binoculars, playing cards, old poetry book "Rhymes of a Red Cross Man" written by a WWI ambulance driver I reference WWI in my art because I see it as the epitome of the senseless slaughter of war. Here an ammo box has been converted into a Red Cross ambulance filled with artifacts of an imagined soldier including a used & broken book of poetry (Rhymes of a Red Cross Man, 1916) written by an ambulance driver. --- Kat Flyn is a self-taught assemblage artist working presently out of San Diego. She began her career as a costume designer in Southern California. Over the years she amassed a trove of artifacts and collectables which she began using to create assemblage art in the 1990's. In 2000 she sold her business and moved to Cuyamaca, a remote community in the mountains outside of San Diego to devote herself exclusively to her artwork. In 2003 her work was interrupted when the Cedar Fire swept through San Diego county and destroyed the forest, her home & studio along with almost all of her collections and works of art. Following the fire she relocated to San Francisco, where she spent a decade concentrating on her art in her studio in SOMA and exhibiting at galleries in the Bay Area. In 2015 she returned to San Diego and now works out of her studio in La Jolla, exhibiting there and in Los Angeles. Kat Flyn refers to herself as an Assemblage Sculptor and her works as Political Art or Protest Art. She separates herself from other assemblage artists in that she only employs “saved” as opposed to “found” objects in her work; and her pieces always have a political or cultural narrative to them rather than being surreal or abstract. She also constructs or refashions many of the pieces which she uses in her art – a soft drink box into a tenement building (Affordable Housing 2017), a jewelry box into a wheelchair (Last Lily Foot 2016), an old shoe shine box into a hearse (Katrina 2018). The result is her work is closer in appearance to Folk Art than Assemblage Art. Strictly speaking I am an assemblage artist, but in fact I construct more than assemble my works. I search out collectables, artifacts and wood carvings and then build scenes to make statements regarding American society. Even when using artifacts from earlier centuries, my theme is almost always about contemporary America. Social injustice, racism, sexism, and violence - aspects of our national psyche – exist in the present but have their seeds planted in our past. Additionally, the artifacts I use, often are meant to amplify the meaning of the work. For instance, the Black stereotype wood figures I use in many of my pieces were almost certainly crafted by a White person. By using such artifacts I ask: what kind of society produces such items in the first place? In my art I make a strict distinction between found objects and saved objects.. A found object - which most assemblage artists use in their works - is devoid of intrinsic or emotional value, having been discarded by its owner as worthless or broken. A saved object on the other hand has retained value, either because it was intrinsically valuable or because emotional value had been added to it (such as a photograph, an old shoe, a vintage toy) and consequently it was saved rather than discarded. The fact that I only use “saved objects” often results in viewers being attracted to the individual pieces within my works rather than seeing the narrative I am attempting to portray. The pieces on display in this exhibit are from my American Home Series. I have assembled an array of old artifacts, carved figures, and iconic symbols, each spotlighting an aspect of living conditions within our borders; and as is consistent with my art, focus is placed on failings in our social contract – overcrowded tenements, trailer parks with their plethora of social ills, poverty back to back with middle class affluence until the foreclosure crisis united both in misery. I realize my presentation in this series is somewhat cartoonish, given the seriousness of the subject matter – racism, poverty, immigration. However, I have found that viewers' initial response to my work is more favorable when I visually phrase my topic in this way. My goal is to get viewers to pause long enough to see past the art and into the narrative advanced by my work.
  • Creator:
    Kat Flyn (1946, American)
  • Creation Year:
    2016
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 15 in (38.1 cm)Depth: 5 in (12.7 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New Orleans, LA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU10523450111

More From This Seller

View All
Locked & Loaded

Locked & Loaded

By Kat Flyn

Located in New Orleans, LA

KAT FLYN is a self-taught assemblage artist working presently out of San Diego. She began her career as a costume designer in Southern California. Over the years she amassed a trove of artifacts and collectables which she began using to create assemblage art in the 1990’s. In 2000 she sold her business and moved to Cuyamaca, a remote community in the mountains outside of San Diego to devote herself exclusively to her artwork. In 2003 her work was interrupted when the Cedar Fire swept through San Diego county and destroyed the forest, her home & studio along with almost all of her collections and works of art. Following the fire she relocated to San Francisco, where she spent a decade concentrating on her art in her studio in SOMA and exhibiting at galleries in the Bay Area. In 2015 she returned to San Diego and now works out of her studio in La Jolla, exhibiting there and in Los Angeles. Kat Flyn refers to herself as an Assemblage Sculptor and her works as Political Art or Protest Art. She separates herself from other assemblage artists in that she only employs “saved” as opposed to “found” objects in her work; and her pieces always have a political or cultural narrative to them rather than being surreal or abstract. She also constructs or refashions many of the pieces which she uses in her art, for example she turns a soft drink box...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Found Objects, Mixed Media

Sentinel Species

Sentinel Species

By Kat Flyn

Located in New Orleans, LA

It is now 2020 and Covid-19 is loose in the world. Medical personnel are our first line of defense against this out-of-control pandemic. We seem able to provide weapons and protective gear for the police as they battle protestors, who are marching against racial injustice, but not able to provide PPE clothing and other medical equipment...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Mixed Media

All Aboard

All Aboard

By Kat Flyn

Located in New Orleans, LA

Systemic racism is so much easier to observe if we step back in time. In this piece, we can easily assume the central figure – the oh so very white guy – believes the scene depicted is the natural order of things. But as we move closer to today, we can see there is a slow train coming around the bend, as more and more of us recognize that the depicted scene is not the natural order of things at all, but is rather the result of cultural decisions we now know as systemic racism. All Aboard.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Mixed Media

Butch

Butch

By Kat Flyn

Located in New Orleans, LA

Here's to all the girls who risked disapproval and ridicule from their peers and parents as they shunned dolls and dresses for the toys and lives their brothers had. --- Kat Flyn i...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Mixed Media

Home by Christmas

Home by Christmas

By Kat Flyn

Located in New Orleans, LA

In the fall of 1914 soldiers marched off to War singing the popular song, “We'll Be Home by Christmas.” The four years of incredible carnage that ensued should have stood for all tim...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Mixed Media

The Wall

The Wall

By Kat Flyn

Located in New Orleans, LA

This work references “The Wall” that Trump made a central part of his campaign for president and which, at the date of this piece's completion, still looms large in his demands for i...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Mixed Media

You May Also Like

Antique Tramp Art Bank Box

Antique Tramp Art Bank Box

Located in Highland, IN

We love folk art and particularly tramp art. Made mostly by anonymous artists and craftsmen from discarded materials, the joy and creativity they convey in a functional object has a ...

Category

Antique Late 19th Century American Folk Art Outsider and Self Taught Art

Materials

Wood

Knox

Knox

By Kollabs

Located in Napa, CA

KOLLABS is a collaborative project between artists Luis Garcia Nerey and Anke Schofield. In their work, they create compositions juxtaposing undomest...

Category

2010s Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Resin, Panel

Game Over : mixed media work of art

Game Over : mixed media work of art

By Gerald Wolfe

Located in New York, NY

Mixed media artwork by a contemporary artist Gerald Wolfe. Gerald Wolfe received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of Maryland in 1972, discovered his interes...

Category

2010s Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Metal

MAQUETTE FOR BOXED IN

MAQUETTE FOR BOXED IN

By Valerie B Hird

Located in New York, NY

VALERIE HIRD MAQUETTE FOR BOXED IN, 2019 paper, watercolor, ink pencil, wood, nails, foam core, PVA glue 17 x 9 x 2 1/2 in. 43.2 x 22.9 x 6.4 cm.

Category

2010s Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Wood, Paper, Glue, Ink, Watercolor

Tramp Art Box, c.1890

Tramp Art Box, c.1890

Located in Savannah, GA

A three lid pedestal tramp art box, circa 1890s. Larger compartment under top. Velvet lined. 10 ¾ inches wide by 7 ¾ inches deep by 10 ¼ inches tall

Category

Antique 1890s Folk Art Outsider and Self Taught Art

Materials

Velvet, Wood