CARL FREDRIK REUTERSWÄRD, Non-Violence (The Knotted Gun), 1985 (Charcoal)

CARL FREDRIK REUTERSWÄRD, Non-Violence (The Knotted Gun), 1985
Calle Henzel, The (Hand) Knotted Gun (Charcoal Edit), 2022 
Edition of 10 + 1 AP
Numbered
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity
Hand knotted
Silk
High / Low Cut

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HENZEL STUDIO is pleased to partner with the Non-Violence Project on a limited collection of fine art rugs after Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd’s iconic sculpture The Knotted Gun. Regarded as the most recognized artistic statements promoting non-violence, the sculpture was created after the artist’s grief of his friend the musician and The Beatles member John Lennon’s tragic death in 1980. Designed by Calle Henzel, the collection of hand knotted rugs presents scanned adaptations of the sculpture in five different colors. Each rug is free-from, made of 100% silk and designed with variable pile-heights assigned to create a layered adaptation of the sculpture. The bronze sculpture is casted after an oversized Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver with its muzzle tied in a knot. The original version of the sculpture was installed at the John Lennon memorial grounds of Strawberry Fields in New York’s Central Park, across from the Dakota, the building where the musician and his wife Yoko Ono lived together. In 1988, Luxembourg donated the original sculpture to the United Nations, and it was moved and installed outside of the headquarters of the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Since 1993, the sculpture has been the symbol of The Non Violence Project (NVP), a nonprofit organization that promotes social change through violence-prevention education programs.

Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd (1934 – 2016) was a Swedish painter and sculptor and one of Sweden’s most recognized artists as well as a respected author. The artist did not conform to any particular art movement. He painted riotous geometrics abstracts reminiscent of Miró or Kandinsky, and made often humerous conceptual works. He studied under the artist Fernand Léger in Paris 195 and was a professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm between 1965 and 1969. In 1986 he was awarded the Prince Eugen Medal for painting. He is best-known for his sculpture The Knotted Gun which has embedded him in popular culture beyond the art world.

The Non-Violence Project Foundation (NVP) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire, motivate, and engage people on how to solve conflicts peacefully. It holds violence prevention and nonviolence education programs for schools and sports clubs around the world. Its logo is the iconic Knotted Gun sculpture named Non-Violence. It has educated eight million students, teachers, and sports coaches with programs covering three main subjects: conflict management, self-esteem building, and nonviolence.

Image: CARL FREDRIK REUTERSWÄRD, Non-Violence (The Knotted Gun), 1985
Calle Henzel, The (Hand) Knotted Gun (Charcoal Edit), 2022 (in-situ).