Raise the Limit, Sean Connery, as it hangs

Eley · 12 bore · fired on a British shoot

Every shell
was fired.

Scroll

Gathered after the shoot. Cleaned.
Set by hand, one of a thousand.

Then the stencil, cut by hand.
One layer for every tone.

Shotgun shell portraits

Jasper Leadbeater

Raise the Limit · Sean Connery · 70 × 58 cm · Edition of 10

“I was told I wasn’t allowed to do art when I was eighteen.”

I didn’t want to go to university. My parents made me go. I asked to do art there and they said no, it could be a hobby.

The first piece came in 2014.

2014First piece
1,000+Cartridges in a single work
6Edition size, Icons
PatentedDesign and process, UK

Caine Is Carter, Michael Caine — Caine Is Carter Michael Caine · 58 × 70 cm · Edition of 10Get Carter, 1971. The title is sprayed where the poster put it.

“So I dropped out of Edinburgh to do art.”

I don’t really talk about my story. It’s probably time I did. People buy the artist, not just the art.

Money Lending Business, Vinnie Jones — Money Lending Business Vinnie Jones · 70 × 58 cm · Edition of 6Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Nickel heads for the grey.

Judgment Day, Arnold Schwarzenegger — Judgment Day Arnold Schwarzenegger · 95 × 70 cm · Edition of 8

One head. Spent, cleaned, set.

III

“The idea was sustainable artwork.”

Taking something that is usually waste, spent cartridges off the ground after a shoot, and turning it into contemporary work.

01
Reclaim

Spent cartridges are gathered after shoots across Britain. Eley, Hull, Fiocchi, Gamebore. Each brass head is cleaned and set by hand into a hexagonal field.
02
Cut

Every stencil is drawn and cut by hand. One layer for each tone, from the lightest highlight to the final blacks. Nothing is printed, nothing is laser cut.
03
Spray

Paint lands on brass. The headstamps and primers stay legible beneath the image, so the object never disappears into the picture. The design and process are patented.

Laying the hand-cut stencil over the brass — Stencil taped over the field

Spraying a tone through the stencil — Spray one tone at a time

Peeling the stencil back to reveal the portrait — Reveal the stencil comes off

The Best Is Over, James Gandolfini, The Sopranos

“Every head stays legible under the paint.”

Eley, Hull, Fiocchi, Gamebore. The object never disappears into the picture. That tension is the work.

The Best Is Over James Gandolfini, The Sopranos · 95 × 70 cm · Edition of 6

The Flying Scot, Sir Jackie Stewart — The Flying Scot Sir Jackie Stewart · Hull cartridges shot at Holland & HollandMade from cartridges fired at Holland & Holland. Sir Jackie founded Race Against Dementia, which the Country Life series supports.

Sir Jackie Stewart and Jasper Leadbeater with The Flying Scot — With Sir Jackie Stewart Race Against Dementia

Country Life.

Game birds in flight, rendered over the cartridges that would bring them down. Grouse, woodcock, partridge. Ten percent of sales from the series go to Race Against Dementia.

Icons.

Cinema and music. Bond, Carter, Soprano, Pulp Fiction, and the hip-hop canon from Nas to Wu-Tang. Small editions, each hand-sprayed. Represented by Smolensky Gallery in Manchester.