Pedro Reyes by Will Csiszar
The Anthropocene
As the world struggles to deal with the growing concern of climate change, hope can be found in many forms of artwork. One artist that gives an idea of how to cope with this change in our world through his artwork is Pedro Reyes. Pedro Reyes' view on the changes that have impacted Earth has influenced him to construct many of his art pieces. Many of these works were constructed in order to deal with the affects humans are causing on the Anthropocene. Webster’s dictionary defines the Anthropocene as "the period of time during which human activities have had an environmental impact on the earth regarded as constitution a distinct geological time." The time frame for where the Anthropocene begins is not concrete. Some may argue that the existence of the human race started the Anthropocene while others argue that the Anthropocene started when humans started the industrial revolution.The idea of the Anthropocene brings about the idea of Anthropocene art. One of the criterial for an artist to be considered apart of Anthropocene art, the work that is being portrayed must show the changes that humans have caused on the Earth. This can be in visual way or through written texts. The artist must address these changes to the environment, as well as bring about ideas that could help to reverse the negative effects that humans are causing on their planet. Pedro Reyes is an example of an artist who would be classified under the category of an Anthropocene artist.
Before learning more about the artwork of Pedro Reyes and the meanings that come about through his artwork, it is important to understand what the Anthropocene means. The Anthropocene is important to understand because many of Reyes’ pieces of art can fit under this category. In general, the Anthropocene recognizes the extent of the negative impact humans have caused on the Earth and brings about a call to action in order to help solve these issues. The first main component of my argument is that there must be recognition of the “negative impacts humans have caused on the earth.” The second main component of this definition is a call to action.
Pedro Reyes brings about the negative impacts humans have caused on the earth as well as brings about a call to action. Born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1972, Pedro grew up affected by gun violence in his country. This influenced many of his more famous pieces of work. He studied at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City and has traveled across the globe to display his artwork. Most of Pedro’s artwork focuses on sculptures that he creates from unusual artistic materials such as weapons. Pedro also specializes in creating informative videos, architecture, and has even focused his efforts to organizing exhibitions for humans to interact with one another.
“If something is dying, becoming rotten and smelly, I think there is a chance to make a compost in which this vast catalog of solutions can be mixed in an entirely new way.” - Pedro Reyes
The Art
The social norm of gun violence as well as his love for art led to Pedro Reyes' influence in constructing works such as disarm and pistols for shovels. Shovels for pistols or Palas por Pistolas is piece of art that Reyes constructed in 2008. In order for Reyes to construct his artwork, he gathered guns that were collected from the citizens who live in Culiacan, Mexico. These people were compensated for turning in their weapons with certificates to purchase items at the local appliance store. According to a survey released by 24/7 Wall Street, Culiacan is considered one of the top 25 most dangerous cities in the world. With the collected weapons that the government had gathered, Pedro Reyes melted down the guns and turned them into shovels. All together, Reyes created 1527 shovels. With each shovel, Pedro went around the neighborhood of Culiacan and planted one tree with each shovel that he created from the guns. Altogether, Reyes planted 1527 trees and helped the community to come together to discuss the violence that guns had caused in their community and how they could fix this problem.When describing his artwork, Pedro Reyes referred to the use of guns by saying “An Agent of death can become an agent of life.” Palas por Pistolas was a way for Reyes to show how humans could take something that is used to kill others, and give it a positive outcome. This was shown by melting the guns (Agent of death) into shovels and planting trees ( Agent of life) with these shovels.
In an interview with Bomb magazine, Pedro elaborated on the meaning behind his artwork. When asked about the meaning he stated, "Taking these guns out of circulation actually saves a few lives, but the real purpose of the piece is to add a story to the world, so in the neighboring cities they will say “In Culiacán they did that …”
Out of the many pieces of artwork that Pedro Reyes has created, the one of his works that best describes the definition of the Anthropocene is pUN or People United Nations. This piece of art that Reyes created was an exhibition that gathered people related to the Nations that are represented in the United Nations. The Peoples United Nation invited over 150 people from the Los Angeles area to participate in his exhibition. These people were in someway related to a specific country that was in the actual United Nations.
At the People United Nations, they tackled issues like gun control and climate change and how they were problematic in the regions the people at the exhibit were from. The main difference between the UN and the pUN was that the pUN tried to bring about an easier way to talk about these topics. This event also discussed the issues that were currently being discussed in the UN to ordinary people.
Another piece of artwork that describes the relation of Pedro Reyes and the effects people have on the Anthropocene is Disarm. Constructed in 2013, this piece, similar to Shovels for pistols, focused on using guns to create a musical instrument. The guns for his artwork came from over 6700 weapons that were seized by the Mexican military. Reyes constructed the guns into a mechanical musical instrument which can be seen in the video below. Pedro talked about how he viewed Disarm stating, “In the end, a gun is an instrument to make someone surrender to your will or die, and music is exactly the opposite- it’s seductive and invitational.” The instrument that Reyes created combined weapons and music to bring about something that is negative with the goal of giving it a positive viewpoint. The instrument that Pedro Reyes created in Disarm uses raw emotion to invite people to think outside of the box in order to try and tackle the issue of gun violence that we have in our society.
Call to Action
Pedro Reyes and his art fit the definition of the Anthropocene described above. The first part of the definition that would make Reyes fall into this category of being an Anthropocene artist is the fact that he brings about an awareness of “the negative affects humans have on the earth” through his artwork. This can be seen by his use of guns in his artwork to show the harm they can cause on society. The pUN is also an example of bringing about awareness of the negative effects because the main point of the exhibition was to gather people together to discuss these topics. Another way that Reyes fits the definition is due to the fact that his artwork brings about a call to action in his artwork. This can be seen by the effort he used to collect guns to raise awareness about gun control in Disarm and Pistols for Shovels. This can also be seen as well in pUN because he is bringing others together to discuss issues in the hope that they could come up with solutions for growing concerns like gun violence and climate change. It is through Pedro Reyes' art that there is a glimmer of hope that humans will some day be able to overcome the negative effects we are causing to the Earth.
Sources:
“Anthropocene.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Anthropocene.“Hammer Projects: Pedro Reyes - Hammer Museum.” The Hammer Museum, 1 Sept. 2016, hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2015/hammer-projects-pedro-reyes/.
“Pedro Reyes - Artist.” Pedro Reyes - Artist, www.pedroreyes.net/.
“Pedro Reyes | Artists.” Lisson Gallery, www.lissongallery.com/artists/pedro-reyes
“Pedro Reyes by Tatiana Cuevas - BOMB Magazine.” Pedro Reyes - BOMB Magazine, bombmagazine.org/articles/pedro-reyes/.
“Pedro Reyes, the Artist Who Turns Guns into Shovels to Plant Trees.” LifeGate, 16 Dec. 2016, www.lifegate.com/people/news/artist-pedro-reyes-guns-shovels.
Boucher, Brian, et al. “Art In America.” The Revolution Will Be Fun - Magazine - Art in America, www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/magazine/the-revolution-will-be-fun/.
Gedeon, Joseph. “26 Most Dangerous Cities in the World.” 247wallst.Com, 16 Aug. 2017, 247wallst.com/special-report/2017/07/15/26-most-dangerous- cities-in-the-world/2/.
Pechman, Alexandra. “Pedro Reyes Is the Artist Donald Trump Should Fear.” W Magazine, 25 May 2017, www.wmagazine.com/story/pedro-reyes-mexican-artist-doomocracy-donald-trump-lisson.
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