Country Life
Game birds in flight, rendered over the cartridges that would bring them down. Grouse, woodcock, partridge. Stocked by House of Bruar. 10% of sales support Race Against Dementia.
The medium
Every shell was fired.
Every portrait is cut by hand.
Jasper Leadbeater reclaims spent 12-bore cartridges from British shoots and sets them, head out, into dense brass fields. Over the brass he lays stencils he has drawn and cut himself, tone by tone, until an icon surfaces from the metal. The object of force stays visible beneath the image. That tension is the work.
- 2014First piece, Ho Chi Minh
- 1,000+Cartridges in a single work
- 6Edition size, icons series
- PatentedDesign and process, UK
“Sustainable artworks that challenge perceptions of waste and value.”
From the artist's statement
Selected works
Icons in brass.
Price on request. Selected works available for private acquisition.
Available007
Sean Connery
58 × 70 cm · Edition of 6
AvailableCaine Is Carter
Michael Caine, 2025
58 × 70 cm · Edition of 6
Signed pieceNew Management
Arthur Shelby
70 × 58 × 5 cm · Signed by Paul Anderson
AvailableJudgement Day
Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2025
Edition of 6
AvailableMarcellus Goes Medieval
Pulp Fiction, 2025
Edition of 6
Race Against DementiaThe Flying Scot
Sir Jackie Stewart
Made from the Hull cartridges shot at Holland & Holland
DetailThe Best Is Over
Tony Soprano
90 × 75 × 5 cm · Limited edition
One head. Spent, cleaned, set.
Process
Reclaim. Cut. Spray.
- 01
Reclaim
Spent cartridges are gathered from shoots across the British countryside. 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. Finished, framed and shipped worldwide.
Collections
Three bodies of work.
Icons
Cinema, music and sport. Soprano, Bond, Ali, Tyson, Snoop, Biggie, the Peaky Blinders. Editions of six, represented by Smolensky Gallery.
Commissions
Your own icon. Your own cartridges. Pieces built from a single shoot, a season or a life, signed where it matters. Bespoke work is quoted privately.
Commission a pieceShown with
- Smolensky Gallery
- House of Bruar
- ADIHEX Abu Dhabi
- Race Against Dementia
- The Field
Exhibiting
The Palm Beach Show
February 2027
Palm Beach County Convention Center, West Palm Beach, Florida. Private viewings are available before, during and after the fair, by appointment.
Request a private viewingAs it hangs
Enquire
Acquire, commission, or visit.
Private acquisition by email. International shipping, framed and insured. Replies within two working days.